Gail El-Halaby writes about the unexpected joys and valuable lessons she has learned during an intergenerational friendship with Jane, a 72 year old ex-MP.
"You know how there are some people predisposed to moving madly when writing plot twists? Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé decided to go hard and never go home in that category."
Haaniyah Angus writes about how integral university and education was to her identity and mental health, and what graduating from it all now means for her.
"I look for you at Piccadilly Station every time my train pulls in. My eyes lift just above the line of the crowd, searching for your giant headphones, for your tall frame decked out in oversized North Face."
"A woman in front of me clutches flowers, she’s chatting into a phone and changing in Stockport for Stepping Hill. Her mum is coming out of hospital today. I watch two women in their twenties embrace at a bus stop. Their arms intertwined. They look like hope, personified."
"There’s a strong connection between fellow Mancunians. I feel this whenever I meet one outside the city. Our conversations automatically flow — finding common ground has never been so easy."
"I got an office job and a flat in central Manchester. It was a new start, I thought ... and I felt the first flickerings of queer joy within myself."
"It was always “I’ll pay you back”, Dad said, but if you did, you’d get it back twice over. Nanna believed that the last bits of cash under the mattress could solve any family crisis, and they often did."
Tallulah Belassie-Page shares her experiences of the emotional burden that women often find themselves carrying for men as the 'unbridled listener'.
Katie Tobin writes about her trip to Paris after the breakdown of a relationship, and how travelling to Paris alone was exactly what she needed to love herself again.
"Summer in a big metropolitan city makes you feel the sexiest and youngest you have ever been, and Granados conveys this feeling perfectly throughout the book."
"Gardening has taught me that life is ferocious, vibrant and resilient. It’s shown me that failures are natural, expected and required for growth", writes Sian Bradley.
