Introduction

Two years ago, I moved back to the UK with my family after living abroad for many years in Hong Kong and Sydney. The experience of starting all over again has made me think about the concepts of home and belonging. I keep coming back to the word ‘tether’. What is it that ties us to people and places? When does a place start to feel like a home? What makes us feel like we belong? The texts I’ve chosen address these questions in one way or other. Some speak directly to the places I’ve lived in; others speak more generally to this theme. Some are short stories in the traditional sense of the word, while others push that boundary through being poetry, essay, novella; I hope you’ll bear with me for that.