A story for December

My final wintertime choice is Leanne Shapton’s ‘Guestbook: Ghost Stories’ a collection of 33 surreal, uncanny short fictions. Each is created using prose, poetry, paintings, photographs, floor plans, wrapping paper, and more. This is a book that “to read out of the corner of your eye,” says one critic. It’s full of suggestions and impressions, whispers and glimpses.
 
One of the stories is ‘At the Foot of the Bed’ and shows a series of sad, abandoned, empty beds. Alongside the image, a short piece of text describes the ghostly visitors unseen but imagined into the photographs. Each has their own tale of heartbreak, loss and escape.

Particular Books, 2019. Read an excerpt in the Random House website here