Love in a Hopeless Place Collection

An anthology of stories from the engine room of the human condition.

Five stand-alone titles published over the last two years, from No. 1 bestselling short story
writer, Emma Calin, combined in this great value 'boxed-set'

Every stranger on the street is a separate story. Their clothes, age and posture reveal some of it.
A collection of short stories allows us to illuminate an overall narrative through the rainbow prism of disparate experience. To this we can add our own sense of empathy or even disgust. On the bus that just passed by and inside the building across the street, these unconnected stories are unfolding. It is the unknown secrets and truths of others that form the background on which
we unwittingly paint ourselves.

The characters who feed the boilers and push the brooms, the individually powerless. All the same,they struggle to assert the human imperative of love, whether or not that be sexual or even available.

THE LOVE IN A HOPELESS PLACE COLLECTION brings you two novelettes and three short stories that explore this universal quest for acceptance and respect:our need to love and be loved.

Social realism for the 21st century.

Titles included in this collection:

Sub-Prime
Two powerless beings are swept together in a transient struggle for survival. Could the human spirit transcend
the brutality and indifference of their brief experience before they are once again swept helplessly apart?

Five star review "Powerful condensed full-flavoured shot of reality."

Escape to Love
A woman on the run from domestic violence with no one but her vulnerable autistic teenage child as a companion, lives in isolation and fear. While her hand to mouth scenarios are played out in the shadow of a threatening suspense, a story of crime and love unfolds around her.

Five star review "Suspense with a twist."

The Chosen
A woman, a man, a van and a plan. What do painting and decorating, Thai brides, self-help manuals and pay-day loans have in common? J.A. knows the answer. Follow his his quest for love and happiness in The Chosen.

Five star review "It reminded me a little of those Tales of the Unexpected shown on TV some years ago."

Angela
A mystery tale of a late night taxi ride where the final passenger may not be all that she seems.

Five star review "Author Calin simply excels at short, sharp stories."

Love in a Hopeless Place
A mature woman stumbles into a discovery of herself that she had never suspected.

Five star review "Gritty, urban and with an inherent 'seediness'; there is some powerful dialogue
and the author does a superb job of tapping into the inner core of some pretty raw emotion."