Hitting Trees with Sticks — Jane Rogers

A gifted young textile designer leaves Britain to work for a Nigerian women s refuge, confident in the conviction that this is her one chance to make a difference; a 16-year-old accepts a low-paying job as a window-cleaner for the opportunity it affords him to peer into other people s lives, and carefully plan his own; and a leading scientist risks his career by taking a secret lover back to his house one night, driven by a passion to share his new theory. The characters in this short story collection are unashamedly defiant. Buoyed by their self-belief, they enthuse, take calculated risks, and refuse to be beaten by situations. Offering an object lesson in how fine the balance can be between self-confidence and self-delusion, this compilation demonstrates how individuals, caught momentarily off-guard, drunk on the smallest drop of confidence, are ultimately brought down by their own belief in themselves."