The Call - Corinna Edwards-Colledge

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Résumé :
One morning, 14 people, 14 phone calls, infinite fates...
Nina is driving along a deserted country road on a dull November morning, her mind in turmoil as she contemplates what the future holds for her family if her cancer treatment proves unsuccessful. She is shaken out of her anxious introspection when she comes across a young man stood on the edge of a bridge. Once she gets out of her car, she unwittingly starts a series of events in motion that will impact through the lives of thirteen other people; men, women and children that she doesn't know, and will most likely never meet.
The Call is a portmanteau style novella, telling the seemingly disparate stories of fourteen individuals trying to make sense of their lives alongside the caprices of fate and the behaviour of those closest to them. The stories include Tim, waiting to see if his lover is going to meet him, and debating whether or not to leave his wife; a refugee, desperate for news of his missing sister; a chef, coming to terms with the news that he has a grown-up son; and a young woman, looking into the void as she contemplates the most drastic of ways to escape her abusive father. Each of the stories is linked by a phone-call or text; either anticipated or unexpected; but each time taking them in new directions or presenting choices that have the potential to radically change their lives. The story of Nina and The Man on the Bridge open and close the novella, and is one that is fully resolved. The other stories, however, are, by varying degrees left open - leaving space for the reader to build possible futures for each character.
Through fourteen very personal stories, The Call explores the effect of modern life's most ubiquitous object, and its power as a bringer of joy, stasis or bitter disappointment. It also describes our now interconnected lives and how we all struggle to have agency in our own stories, within a world where communication has expanded beyond our wildest dreams.

Biographie:
Corinna Edwards-Colledge was born and brought up in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester. Her favourite pursuit as a child was spending many Kendal-mint-cake-fuelled hours exploring magical local sites like Alderley Edge and Stile Woods. From this she took an enduring love of mystery and the natural world into her writing.

She studied English and Media at the University of Sussex and went on to a diverse working life including running art activities for kids on play-schemes and a few years in a local TV newsroom. The stage also beckoned, the highlight of which being a tour singing and acting in a raucous play written by and starring the late Brian Behan.

Writing has been a lifelong passion, including poetry, short stories, screenplays and novels. For the past fourteen years she has worked in the public sector helping people improve their health and well-being.

She lives in Brighton with her husband, and a loving if sometimes hectic, patchwork family including two kids each, a dog, two cats and a tarantula called Doris!