The unknowable wisdom of a baby; two teenagers with plans to build a time machine;the unnerving relationship between a man and his dangerous dog; a bumpy reunion between two childhood friends …

These are stories about how people grow together and pull apart, the strangeness of lives lived at close quarters. Envy, distrust, confidence, collusion, hope - in this remarkable collection, Emily Fridlund delves into the small lies and large truths that make up our lives.

Selected by Ben Marcus as winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction