Backstories by Simon van der Velde

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

30% of all profits from the sale of Backstories is shared between Stop Hate UK, The North East Autism Society and Friends of the Earth.

To buy Backstories please click the link....Backstories by Simon Van der Velde

Outline...

Dreamers, singers, heroes and killers, they can dazzle with their beauty, their talent or their unmitigated evil, yet inside themselves they are as frail and desperate as the rest of us. But can you see them? Can you unravel the truth?

These are people you know, but not as you know them.

Peel back the mask and see

My Review...

14 short stories of heroes or villains at a crucial time in their lives but with a difference, you do not know the identity of the protagonists and it's down to you to recognise them.

Engaging and intriguing this book is off the beaten track and offers something a little extra to the norm.

It is like a mash up of "through the keyhole" "Quantum Leap" and "Guess Who" board game. Not a whodunnit but more of a who is it?

I can see this type of short story being a very useful tool in the teaching of English or History. You really feel as if you "walk a mile in their shoes" Of course the only downside would be if the reader is not familiar with the person at the heart of the story.

I enjoyed some of the tales more than others. I found I was especially drawn to the killers! Also some of the stories are in the first person and some are in the third person. I found the first person tales to be more immersive. For me the more macabre seemed to be more memorable ones.

14 stories is a lot and personally I think I would have preferred 5 or 6 stories but with more deeper, darker slightly longer narratives. All in the first person. However I'm sure others would disagree.

That not withstanding I found this book to very interesting and engaging. Well researched and cleverly done. Well worth reading and challenging yourself to guess who?

Selected quotes...

"Okay they're not beautiful, they're pretty ugly really, and totally past it, but they've got something real between them. Maybe, I wonder, is that what love is?"

"The officer's hand closes across her mouth reducing her screams to muffled cries that only bring the girls running faster. They burst into the atrium flushed from their morning ride, sweat damp on their faces"

"She can't help it, even though she knows it makes people crazy, makes them leave her, like her father left, like her mother left,"

About the author..

Simon Van der Velde has worked variously as a barman, laborer, teacher, caterer and lawyer, as well as traveling throughout Europe and South America collecting characters for his award-winning stories. Since completing a creative writing M.A. (with distinction) in 2010, Simon’s work has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards including; The Yeovil Literary Prize, (twice), The Wasafiri New Writing Prize, The Luke Bitmead Bursary, The Frome Prize, and The Harry Bowling Prize – establishing him as one of the UK’s foremost short-story writers.

Simon now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with his wife, labradoodle and two tyrannical children.