No One has Any Intention of Building a Wall by Ruth Brandt is a collection of stories and it was exactly my cup of tea. The characters are people that are, in a way, outsiders, and that difference is used in each story as a hook. No One has Any Intention of Building a Wall is one of those books where once you have closed it, you feel as if you are shutting the door on realistic characters that you are able to feel for. I didn’t so much enjoy the first story in this collection. Funnily enough, I always struggle to like the first story in any given short story collection. The title story of this collection was fantastic. I loved the very short ones: A Contemplation of Rain and Ducks and Lucky Underpants. Superstitions was another stand out and the simplicity of these lines. ‘The car engine falls silent. A door clicks open, clunks shut.’ Just a description of the opening of a door!

The stories in No One has Any Intention of Building a Wall were so well crafted. It is my ambition to one day write stories as good as the ones in this collection were.