Not Ready for Love

Not Ready for Love is a collection of short stories which tries to tell what it can be like to be a child, a young person or a parent in Britain today. Some of the stories seek to expose the system that lets children down. Others touch on the remarkable resilience and compassion of children. Some look at the funny side of family life. Children who have experienced adversity can suffer the impact throughout their lives. But vulnerable children can triumph when given the care and support they need. Adopted and Looked After children have achieved high office in government, have become national poets and sporting heroes. And there are countless numbers who have become unsung heroes; turning out to be great parents themselves, or just being good people, getting on with their lives and making the world a better place. Extract from More Storage Space: 'It's your generation, actually; burning down the rainforests, global warming, extinction of the rhinos. Trump! Bolsanaro!' He looks up at them, the last two words summarising everything, he thinks. He hopes they'll see how obvious it is, though he's frustrated that he can't express himself more clearly. 'Bolsanaro? Which team does he play for?' asks Mike. Logan looks at the ceiling. From learning the moves: She looks at Spencer's dyed hair: bright red. 'Are you one of the entertainers?' she asks. 'Me? No, I'm hoping to be a dad one day,' says Spencer. 'Where's your wife?' 'No wife. Just me.' 'Just you?' Taylor looks puzzled. This isn't her idea of a family. From Gold: We advertised in the Big Issue. Not a sign. We got angry. How could she leave us worrying like this? We got frantic. Someone's taken her. She must be dead. It was a living nightmare. And friends and family had to know. How do you explain it? Their look seemed to say it was our fault; we must have done something. Our little Olivia who used to play her violin for them all as a party piece. Who'd won the school poetry prize. Weeks, months, a year... Ali Smith has written of one of the stories, The Gift, "I guarantee you will never forget... The Gift."