There is in the short story, at its most characteristic, something we do not often find in the novel, Frank O'Connor wrote, 'an intense awareness of human loneliness.'

The stories shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award with BookTrust 2017 all feature characters that are disconnected, willingly or unwillingly, from those around them: a mysterious out-of-towner is shunned by her new colleagues; a grieving husband retreats into his old compulsion for hoarding; a promising academic risks his career for a casual liaison with a younger man. And whether we follow the characters' need to be alone - like the fisherman drifting dangerously far from shore - or trace it back to its root - like the daughter burying her violent father - what we find there is always unexpected.

This year's shortlist was selected by authors Eimear McBride, Jon McGregor and Sunjeev Sahota, as well as BBC Radio's Di Speirs and acclaimed novelist Joanna Trollope who chaired the panel and introduces the collection.

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• Literature & Fiction

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