Stella feels the inside of her mouth get dry. She pours herself a glass of water from the bottle and takes a sip. A schoolgirl daughter of a butcher begins a relationship with a much older man and becomes enamoured, not with him but his aggressive out of control dog Petal, her wanting for flesh reflected in this creature. We loved the freshness and the spirit in the writing of ‘Blue 4eva’ – Saba Sams not only brilliantly captures the nuances of blended family dynamics, the jealousies and stresses, the efforts and the rejections, but she gives her young women credible and laudable agency and energy. We recognised them and laughed with them. We were delighted too, to discover that we had chosen a writer who has already, at 26, created such an exciting body of work that she has published her first short story collection. This award has always sought to reward excellence and dedication to the unique and challenging form of the short story and this year’s winner more than fulfils our ambition.” Di Speirs, Editor of Books at BBC Audio and judge of the Award since its launch. It was the digression into childhood (in a hippy family? and circus?) that the the authors inexperience was obvious, the humour of previous stories felt too mature and there seemed to be no discernible change to writing style despite our protagonists now being children. These stories felt shoe-horned in, perhaps for variation but instead gave me whiplash. Whilst I admire any artist that pushes themselves there’s nothing wrong with writing what you know and where your strengths lie, especially as a debut author. Talking about her story, Sams says: “It’s very special to have ‘Blue 4eva’ – a story I’ve been working on, in one way or another, since I was nineteen – be given this kind of esteem. I first wrote ‘Blue 4eva’ in rainy Manchester when I was a student, though it was very different then. The story was very short, more of a vignette, but I had fun with it. When I was writing Send Nudes a few years later, I returned to the story and started working on it again. I’m always thinking about what it looks like to be a young woman: about bodies and power, about friendships and family, about the ways we’re constantly looking to break free. ‘Blue 4eva’ engages with sexuality too, particularly with queerness, in a subtle way that I found interesting to write.”

It isn’t a question Stella’s been asked before. Frank’s interest in taking photographs of her only developed this holiday. I don’t mind, she says. It’s fun. Non mi aspettavo un libro del genere. Lo volevo leggere perché mi aveva colpito la copertina, e mi sono trovata davanti una fantastica raccolta di racconti brevi che mi ha lasciato senza parole. Frank lifts his camera and snaps it a few times at Stella. She isn’t sure if he’s seriously taking photographs, or if he’s performing for Blue.

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I particularly enjoyed that each of the stories were from an introspective point of view, (and I love this from Sally Rooney’s writing) so it was great to see this on a different piece of work from a different author. I loved seeing the thoughts of these women and getting a slice of their lives. In this regard, most of the stories are inherently about choice, and about women brave and selfish enough to make them. In the first story, ‘Tinderloin’, a young woman gets into a compromising relationship with an older man, only to realise she cares more for his dog than him. She might not know this consciously, but she makes the choice to take the dog with her nonetheless, and in the act she is redeemed by this sliver of control.

Jasmine stops. They’re at the bottom of the street by now. The fairy lights have run out and things are a shade darker. Jasmine’s face is mostly covered by her hair, but Stella can see that her mascara is running. Stella almost takes another spoonful, but changes her mind. Let’s save the rest for mum and Frank. I want them to try it.

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Blue gives a twirl. Stella knows that most grown women in that outfit would look crazy, but Blue manages to pull it off.