The twenty-eight short stories in this collection by Diva comprise what the editor describes as a "Britdyke anthology". I am not normally a fan of the short story genre but, with just two or three exceptions, these had me enthralled.

The stories reflect the lives of women not just as lesbians, but as lesbians in mainstream society. From teenage angst to mid-life crisis, the characters who live within these stories do so against the backdrop of a largely heterosexual world. It is this which helps to give many of the stories their reality and their strength.

"Mary, sweet and tender, all her gestures tinged with understanding, and I would choke on the gall rising in my throat, and I would fight against the urge to hurt her. And mostly I would hurt her. I hurt her where the bruises would not show. Not where my mother hurt me, physically, when I was supposed to be a child, but in the secret places of the heart. I hurt her so that no-one but us would know, until she left me for another lover. Then it would all show, and Mary would know how it all was, and how it would be." "The Root of It" Linda Innes

There are stories to make you cry and laugh, to make you cringe with embarrassed recognition and to make you sit up and think. Dark tales of jealousy and revenge and the effects of parental abuse and partner abuse, are mixed with lighter accounts of girl-finds-girl, get-rich-quick scams and the difficulties of finding a suitable partner, and with thoughtful stories about the problems of gaining family acceptance and of bringing a child into the relationship.

Of the many stories which I thoroughly enjoyed, three stood out for me, each for very different reasons. The exquisite pathos of "Ten Times Proud" by Stella Duffy is beautifully written and had the rare effect of making me cry. "Shopping with Mother" by Robyn Vinten is a very amusing account of a mother's inability to understand the difference between gender and sexual orientation and had the equally rare effect of making me laugh aloud while reading. Kathleen Kiirik Bryson's "The Day I Ate My Passport" is a classic example of how to drive a point home through the use of humour - in this case, the immigration problems faced by same-sex couples.

This collection of stories is refreshing in its portrayal of the everyday reality of life for women-loving women and I wholeheartedly recommend it.