We’re Not Rich

A stunning debut collection of linked short stories exploring the promises and disappointments of modern life, edited by award-winning author Alexander MacLeod.

These are the stories of the people who used to live next-door.

The characters in Sue Murtagh’s outstanding debut collection of linked short stories are at a crossroads. Middle-class, middling, they wrestle with the consequences of their decisions and powerful forces outside of their control. Whether it’s a volatile housing market, the ever-present threat of illness, or the slow disintegration of a marriage, this community of neighbours finds themselves trapped between the idyllic promises of the North American dream and the stark realities of modern life.

Mice infest every home a woman has ever lived in, no matter the domestic trappings. A charity golf tournament is an exercise in futility for a pair of married insurance entrepreneurs. At a community pool, profound grief manifests as rage. A grandmother’s stories of generational trauma mutate in the retelling. And a suburban wildfire causes a young person to question the idea of home and the values of her parents’ generation.

Packing the punch of a novel, these thirteen deftly interwoven stories scrutinize the lives of everyday people with surgical precision, while finding connection and community in the unlikeliest of places. Edited by award-winning author Alexander MacLeod, We’re Not Rich is a wryly observed and deeply-thoughtful collection, where nothing is quite as it should be, but everything feels true.