Quickly, While They Still Have Horses
  • Published: 27 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804993170
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99

Quickly, While They Still Have Horses

Formats & editions
Paperback
27 May 2025
EBook
4 Apr 2024
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The dazzling new short story collection from the multi-award-winning author of The Raptures; bold, tender, surprising stories of youth and innocence, age and experience - and all the spaces in between.

‘Jan Carson is a born storyteller: her work is so imaginative, whimsical, mischievous and brave, but tender and curious too — you never know where she's going to take you next, so reading her is always an adventure. Exactly how it should be.’ LISA MCINERNEY, author of THE GLORIOUS HERESIES

'Pure magic, funny, sharp, heartbreaking, the short form at its absolute best. Jan Carson is a unique and very special writer, one of the greatest of the modern fabulists. - DONAL RYAN author of HEART BE AT PEACE

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In sixteen sparkling stories, Jan Carson introduces us to worlds and characters that feel real enough to touch. All of life is here: the thrill of growing up, the grief when youth is over; first love, mature love, parenthood and loss - all shot through with profound compassion, warm wit, and boundless imagination.

In 'A Certain Degree of Ownership', a distracted couple on a beach fail to notice their baby crawl perilously towards the sea. In 'Troubling the Water', a rumour spreads at a public swimming pool and chaos ensues. In 'Fair Play' a dishevelled father loses his two sons in an adventure park.

Every so often, an irresistible suggestion of the other world will surprise and delight, reaffirming Carson as a thrillingly original and audacious talent, and making Quickly, While They Still Have Horses the perfect introduction for readers new to her work.
  • Published: 27 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804993170
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

Jan Carson

Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 to critical acclaim, followed by a short story collection, Children’s Children (2016), and a flash fiction anthology, Postcard Stories (2017). Her work has appeared in numerous journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. In 2016 she won the Harper’s Bazaar short story competition and was shortlisted for the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize. She specializes in running arts projects and events with older people, especially those living with dementia. The Fire Starters is her second novel.

portrait photo of Jan Carson

Also by Jan Carson

Children's Children
The Raptures
The Last Resort
The Fire Starters
See all
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