This was my first encounter with the work of Chloe Ardijis and it was a wonderful surprise. Aridjis is an award-winning writer of Mexican extraction who now lives in London.

This is the title story of Ardijis’s collection, Dialogue with a Somnambulist: Stories, Essays & a Portrait Gallery. We discover the strange progression of a woman’s relationship with a man and a mannequin. One night after her evening meal she decides to take a walk. Should she go left into a busy street, or right into a quieter one? Her decision is to follow a plastic bag buffeted by the wind into the quieter street where the only other pedestrian is “one of those dark city angels who appear like holograms only to disappear a second later”.

The woman and the ‘angel’ end up walking to a bar, described as “the finest in the city”, but “only a select few were ever able to find it”. And the woman and her new companion succeed. Within, they find a collection of grotesques and smoke. She encounters the Somnambulist in a glass case. He is a waxwork mannequin – “Tall and regal and encased in darkness.” The enchantment begins, and the woman becomes a regular at the bar, each time inspecting the mannequin, fretting over his condition. She encounters a former boyfriend, Friedrich, and the two wonder if there is a spark left from their previous relationship. Without giving too much away, the story proceeds – Friedrich procures the Somnambulist – “who ever heard of shutting up a somnambulist when movement was what defined them.” It/he takes up residence in the woman’s bedroom. Pompei, as she calls him, begins to move… Read this excellent book to find out how it goes.

First published in Dialogue with a Somnambulist: Stories, Essays & a Portrait Gallery, House Sparrow Press, 2021. Expanded edition published in 2024