Re-Connection

It is a joy to have my friend Miriam Drori return to the blog on the publication of her new book Re-Connection. It is always lovely to have early details of a newly launched book, but especially when the author is a personal friend. The tour for the book of short stories entitled Re-Connections is run by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines and I am grateful to her for inviting me to take part.

Thank you for having me back on your blog, Val. I was inspired to put Re-Connections together when I realised that many of the short stories I’d written over the years were connected by the theme of connections. Some were about people meeting for the first time; some about break ups; and others about healing the rifts. Some were about romantic connections, but most revolved around friends or colleagues. Until I discovered this theme, I wasn’t aware that this topic had interested me for so long. I hope the stories inspire readers to think about and discuss their own connections.

The Blurb

Why are we attracted to certain individuals and repelled by others? Why do we fall out of contact with former friends, or fall out with them altogether? Why do we crave friendship?

The answers to these questions are many and varied, and some of them reveal themselves in the stories of this collection. Not all these connections desire to lead to friendship; some are business-related. Yet, even those connections work better with friendly comments and gestures. What happens to people who struggle with such social norms? Are they destined to remain friendless?

Without realising it, Miriam Drori has been interested in this topic for many years. That’s evident in the fact that these tales were written throughout her writing career. Some of them are completely or partly autobiographical, while others are purely fictional. Which ones are which is a question she declines to answer.

The Extract

This excerpt appears near the beginning of the story entitled "Gruesome in Golders Green”.

Sarah, a seemingly typical middle-aged woman, is walking home on a cold winter’s evening after visiting her daughter and new grandchild. A sound stops her from crossing and makes her turn the other way. The sound is a scream made by a girl who must have come from between the houses.

Before Sarah knows it, the girl has fallen onto her warm brown coat. She’s shaking and sobbing. She doesn’t have a coat – just a navy-blue jumper that swamps her. No wonder she’s shivering. But why is she sobbing, and what’s she doing in Sarah’s arms? More to the point, what’s Sarah going to do about her? The sobbing has subsided, but the girl is still breathing in short bursts. She raises her head to look at Sarah. Her eyes are wild, her hair dishevelled.

“I’m so sorry,” she manages between breaths.

That’s something, thinks Sarah. At least she has manners.

“I’ve just seen…” The sobs have returned. The face is again buried in Sarah’s coat. Sarah wants to go home. Her husband will be waiting for her. She was planning a nice warm cup of tea together before they retire for the night. But this girl has become attached to her. It would be wrong of her to pull her off and drop her there on the street.

“What did you see?”

The Author

Miriam Drori, author, editor and social anxiety warrior, worked as a computer programmer and a technical writer before turning her attention to full-time writing. Her novels and short stories cover several genres, including crime, romance and uplit. She has also written a non-fiction book about social anxiety. Her short stories have appeared in various anthologies and several now form a new collection, called Re-Connections.

Born and raised in London, Miriam now lives in Tel Aviv having moved from Jerusalem, where the cosy crime mysteries are set. She has travelled widely, putting her discoveries to good use as settings in her writing. Her characters are not based on real people, but rather are formed from an amalgam of the many and varied individuals who have embellished her life.

When not writing, Miriam enjoys reading, hiking, biking, dancing and touring.