Diverse and moving, these six outstanding stories are meditations on grief and loss, love, communication and loneliness. Each one will take the reader on a brief yet unforgettable journey into private worlds and unexpected corners of the human heart.

The shortlisted stories have all been chosen for this year's Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award - the world's richest and most prestigious prize for a single short story, dubbed the 'equivalent of the Man Booker for the short story' by the Sydney Morning Herald.

The finalists of 2019 come from three continents, whose exceptional stories span such diverse territory as high end fashion, the Troubles, a disastrous poetry anthology cross-cultural romance and family secrets. But all are linked by their competence and artistry, through stylistic inventiveness, dark humour, intricacy, and a masterful formal control.