Perfect Lives by Polly Samson – review

The veneer of middle-class life is gently stripped away in this tapestry of tender yet desolate short stories"In my perfect life," a voice sings over a car radio, before being whipped away by the wind, "I don't mind playing the fool."Polly Samson's interlinked short stories capture the noisy rituals, petty foolishness and unspoken betrayals of middle-class life. Her meticulously composed tableaux radiate warmth: an elaborate birthday party, a family arranged around an open fire, a piano tuner tr...

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