Colette Paul, Cambridge, 14 Oct 2026

With about 40 other people I attended the launch of Colette Paul's "A complete success", a short story collection. The stories were written over the last 20 years and are all set in Glasgow though she's lived in Cambridge for over 15 years. She thinks the stories are happier than others have thought. They often involve people who are close without being related (tenament neighbours etc). Some of the stories might have become a novel. Lots of them began with snatches of dialogue. She's written more stories from a male PoV. The editor included only one - the title piece that's maybe the author's favourite. Some have a leap-of-time at the end, which the author thinks cheap in some ways. "Rats" may have been the quickest to write. "The Tutor" might have required the most revisions.