Whoever you choose to love

There is something almost unbearably poignant about the young voices that make up this outstanding first collection from a talented newcomer to the Scottish writing scene.

They're optimistic, quirky, melancholy voices, but bristling with energy and humour.

There are echoes of the wit of a young Muriel Spark in these contemporary tales of modern lives, a way of twisting the mundane to make it seem extraordinary.

A young woman goes to see the father who left her when she was a baby and ends up having to have a look at him in his coffin, a little girl watches from the top bunk as her older sister gets ready to go out, disappointed schoolgirls lie in wait for flashers, a woman takes her ill child with her on a hot date. 'Saturday night. Mum and dad discussing whether his new slippers look manly enough.

Jesus wept.'