The Separate Heart

'A piercing book of stories from a remarkable new writer' - Simon Callow, Observer

This accomplished debut offers a luxurious reading experience. The common theme is that of separation, of "reconciling opposites", yet each tale is strikingly different: all are equally memorable. Affecting, graceful, recalling the dispassionate precision of Elizabeth Bowen, this is a timeless collection

A terrific debut... If Robson is dropping an immaculate collection on us we should simply be grateful, for his style is witty and confident, while his robust and engaging tales are mapped out with perspicacity, exuberance and deftly summoned delicacy of feeling... dip into it for a refreshing draught of how punchy and intoxicating a well-crafted tale can be

Each of these stories is as substantial as a novel boiled down to a bouillon cube, rich in details

Sharp and funny...edged with melancholy...an interesting and accomplished debut

Simon Robson was born in 1966. He is the author of Catch. He is also well known as an actor and playwright.

If there is a thread running through Simon Robson's brilliant collection of stories it is the notion of separateness - of adults from each other, of children from adult knowledge, of adult consciousness from the vividness of childhood. 
 
His protagonists are often unlikely - a cat, a man, met in a bar, who drove a chariot in Ben Hur; a girl who gets up very early - but the stories are wise, funny, beautifully observed and somehow utterly true.

Simon Robson

Courageous and well-crafted ... a potent work, clear evidence of a promising talent

Robson is astute and gentle in his observations

Robson's writing tends to complexity, and is both effective and lovely

Catharine wakes to an empty bed. Her husband Tom, a human rights lawyer, is away on business and it's the first time she has woken alone in their cottage since they moved there from London five months ago. 
 
She is, as she confesses, a serious woman; realistic and practical. She has relinquished her hold on past ambitions, her music and her career, in preparation for family life. Now, without distraction, she wonders what she is to do. 
 
Time progresses, and in encounters both real and imagined - with the village's inhabitants, with her best friend Maria and with Tom - Catharine plucks at the fabric of her life until it is threadbare. From assured beginnings the day rushes to a realisation of her very worst fears, and to a denouement of devastating poignancy.

Simon Robson

Praise for Catch

Courageous and well-crafted ... a potent work, clear evidence of a promising talent

Robson is astute and gentle in his observations

Robson's writing tends to complexity, and is both effective and lovely

Courageous and well-crafted ... a potent work, clear evidence of a promising talent

Robson is astute and gentle in his observations

Robson's writing tends to complexity, and is both effective and lovely

Courageous and well-crafted ... a potent work, clear evidence of a promising talent

Robson is astute and gentle in his observations

Robson's writing tends to complexity, and is both effective and lovely

Books by Simon Robson

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