Sorry For Your Trouble: Stories
RICHARD FORD
(Bloomsbury, 272 PP, £16.99)
Tablet bookshop price £15.29 • Tel 020 7799 4064

Out drinking with fellow lawyers in New Orleans, Sandy McGuinness catches sight of a beautiful woman across a crowded bar. It takes him a moment to recognise her as an old flame – Barbara, whom he hasn’t seen since they holidayed together 35 years ago. Before long he has pushed a dinner date with his wife and friends to the back of his mind, and is walking with her along the river.

With most writers, the trajectory of the story would be clear: Sandy’s whole life thrown into question as he feels the pull of a lost love. But Richard Ford is not interested in anything so straightforward. His preoccupation is with the spaces in between: the events that didn’t quite happen, the feelings for which there are no precise words, the conclusions that may be proved wrong. So we discover that Sandy was only a little bit in love with Barbara; their holiday was not a great success; they parted without heartbreak or acrimony. He might kiss her beside the river, or he might not; if he does, it won’t necessarily be significant.