A theory expounded by Heidegger is that time is a series of ‘nows’, each one always already the subject of a flash of experience, and all hurtling towards the finitude that defines experience.
When Mrs Parker begins to feel most peculiar, an ambulance is called, and as the paramedics set to work, she wonders if that will be the end of her, there, at The Oriental Dragon surrounded by strangers forking up fried rice. As her life hangs in the balance, she considers her heart, and reviews some of the ‘nows’ of a life richly lived and almost always taken for granted.
‘Set in the structure the title suggests, this novella brings the reader into the moment of Mrs Parker’s demise and then, with swift moves and snappy dialogue, takes us through her life (moments both special and mundane), all while the ambulance lights flare and the compressions are counted. A life lived, a life revived, a life lost: there are many wonderful moments in this clever set of stories.’
~ Michelle Elvy, author of the everrumble and the other side of better
ISBN 978-1-912095-98-8; 133mm x 203mm; 90pp
£10.99 GBP