It is 1971 and Charles, a nine-year-old English boy flies to America on PanAm with his mother and American father. His parents are having marital difficulties and will be leaving him with his paternal grandmother (whom he must call Lillian, never Grandma) for ten days.

Beautifully observed with a believable child narrator and vivid yet effortless period detail, this is a story that offers a poignant 'moment' in a lonely young child's life as he finds companionship with two star-crossed hotel workers.

A lonely Polish widow sits in her flat with no one for company but her fat feline companion – Boris the Cat. It is near Christmas and she remembers past holidays with Boris (the Husband). An unexpected encounter changes everything when her Pakistani neighbour invites her for a special meal.

This is a light, funny story in Lewycka's characteristic whimsical style. At its heart, however, it is also a keenly observed examination of ageing, loneliness and the unexpected joy of having prejudices disproved.

A troubled young boy is haunted by the loss of his brother. When he develops a dangerous infatuation with his new teacher, and follows her home one night, his fantasies and hidden desires set in motion a series of events that will cost everyone dear.

This is a dark twist on the traditional coming of age tale.

In an unnamed country, Astrid tends her cacti in her office and longs for a child. Her husband Virgil is an unemployed musician and together they navigate what feels very much like a European city at a time of existential crisis. Eventually, they receive the news that they have been approved to adopt and they travel 'to a far city' to meet their new daughter, Lauren.

The narrator, Astrid, is emphatic, candid, fascinating and a little scary. This is a story that takes the reader right inside the head of an exquisitely imagined character whose personal crisis, and the revelations of motherhood, will resonate even as they sometimes confound.

A woman breastfeeds her infant son, huddled in a warm car while her brother and father prepare the ground for her mother's grave. She thinks back on her mother's illness, the twinned traumas of birth and death, a new life beginning as another ends.

Narrated in the second-person voice, Sarah Hall's story is a poetic and deeply intimate study of motherhood, loss and the possibility of love.

A woman waits for her husband to arrive home from a business trip in this closely observed, masterfully crafted story. The evening before her husband is due to return, the woman fusses over her outfit, plans her journey to the airport by tube and obsessively checks the airline website.

The next morning she arrives early at the airport, ready to welcome him home. We feel her worry and anticipation, desperately longing for a happy reunion.