The poignant and subtle novella 'Arrivals' unfolds slowly, revealing a mother and daughter in opposite corners of the planet, both experiencing their own personal revelation. Following the tragic death of her boyfriend, 19-year-old Amy escapes to LA where a man lay in wait for her. A man she didn't remember. A man who had been missing for her whole life or so it felt. Back home in London, unravelling former West End star Maggie also seeks escape, fleeing empty nest syndrome to find memories of her first love dotted along the Brighton seaside and messages at the bottom of bottles. On Susie Wild's debut collection of short stories The Art of Contraception where the novella Arrivals was first published: 'amusingly quirky and darkly humorous, yet always ready to identify and sympathise with the loneliness and sense of loss that pervades the lives of her characters[…] The Art Of Contraception is well worth the read. If Parthian can continue to unearth writers of this calibre, then its new imprint will definitely be one to follow.' Harri Roberts, Planet Magazine (no.201, January 2011); 'Veering from the purely observational into a strangely unnerving other-worldliness, these stories have at times a Lynchian quality.' — Book of the Month, Buzz Magazine, 1 October 2010
