This Way to Departures
Linda Mannheim

Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2020

‘Mannheim exposes the cracks in the facade of the American dream.’
– Guardian

What happens when we leave the places we’re from? What do we lose, and who do we become, and what parts of our pasts are unshakeable? 

Linda Mannheim’s second short story collection focuses on people who have relocated – both voluntarily and involuntarily. 

Opening with Miami-set political thriller, ‘Noir’, this exquisitely rendered set of stories will leave you reeling.

THIS WAY TO DEPARTURES is a deeply affecting portrait of American society and the constant search for a place to call 'home'.

About the author

Linda Mannheim is the author of three books of fiction: Risk, Above Sugar Hill, and This Way to Departures. Her short stories have appeared in magazines in the US, UK, South Africa, and Canada. She recently launched Barbed Wire Fever, a project that explores what it means to be a refugee through writing and literature. Originally from New York, Linda divides her time between London and Berlin.

You can find out more about her work on www.lindamannheim.com

Praise for Linda Mannheim and This Way to Departures

A recommended book for 2019 on the books blog Never Imitate.

One of Catherine McNamara and Dan Coxon’s books of the year in The Lonely Crowd.

Selected by writer and reviewer (the Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, and Times Literary Supplement) Ian Critchley as one of his books of the year.

'Mannheim’s restive tales of her desiccated stretch of New York provoke and abide like a slap.'
– Eimear McBride

'Wonderful, affecting stories.'
– Irenosen Okojie, prize winning author of Speak Gigantular

“Wherever she goes, and however grim things get, Linda Mannheim retains her compassion and irrepressible curiosity about what makes people do the things they do, and the ways we damage and heal each other.”
– Chris Power, author of Mothers

'Linda Mannheim’s smouldering vignettes of New York life are both achingly sad and beautifully wrought. These are stories to re-read and savour.' 
– Stuart Evers, author of Your Father Sends His Love

‘There’s anger, righteous indignation and sorrow in these stories, relatable characters and situations and solid connections with the real world that belie its theme of dislocation.’
– The Herald

‘I couldn’t be more impressed with the quality and style of her writing.’
– Never Imitate

‘This Way to Departures is a wonderful companion piece to Above Sugar Hill. It looks more deeply at the individuals and their reaction to the places they find themselves living in and the people they find themselves living among.’
– What I Think When I Think About Reading

‘The work of an increasingly ambitious and confident writer, striking off in a range of new directions.’
– Splice

‘A rare equilibrium of story, setting, voice and empathy, fully recommended.’
– Catherine McNamara, author of The Cartography of Others

‘I was constantly impressed by Mannheim’s invention and the quality of her prose.’
– Dan Coxon

‘A series of stories which are utter tour-de-forces, sweeping the rug out from under you and hitting you where it hurts. It is sucker punch after sucker punch.’
– Fallen Figs Book Blog

Paperback ISBN: 9781910312438

Ebook ISBN: 9781910312445

Publication date: 3rd October 2019

Formats: Paperback / eBook