Equal Love

'Witty, intelligent . . . definitely a name to watch.' Scotland on Sunday ..In his new collection, prize-winning author Peter Ho Davies takes as his starting point the essential imbalance of the relationship between parent and child. Drawing on the author's own cross-cultural inheritance, these stories range across a series of settings and backgrounds. From a Chinese son gambling with professional mourners to a mixed-race couple who experience a close encounter with an alien being, Ho Davies' characters share an instantly recognizable sense of displacement - these are children of one century, adults of the next - caught between debts to their parents and what they owe their offspring. ..Sharply observed and compassionate, Equal Love imparts the talent of a truly original writer, whose work has already earned comparison with that of Raymond Carver, James Joyce and V. S. Naipaul. ..'Ho Davies is compassionate, but never mawkish; witty without being unkind. His first collection, The Ugliest House in the World, won prizes, and it's easy to see why: he picks his way through fragile family ties with an almost feline agility and grace.' Cressida Connolly, Literary Review ..'In a bleak, cold world, these very humane stories are a flag for sunrise.' Russell Celyn Jones, The Times ..Smartly written and sweetly subversive.' Independent ..'A set of delicate variations on the theme that love brings pain.Davies'.writing is poignant and humane.' Sunday Times ..This is Ho Davies on top form; funny, touching, off-beat. Like his first collection, Equal Love deserves the laurels.' Literary Review