Grief, motherhood and the Giant’s Causeway feature in the best Short Stories of the

Nightjar by Emily Ruskovich (Chatto and Windus £18.99, 272pp)

Slow, quiet and graceful, these exceptional short stories from the author of Idaho are exquisite.

Set in the lush scenery of America’s Pacific Northwest, the tales are haunted by unsettling, unreliable memories and characters who grapple with uneasy truths.

Victor’s Room sets the tone for this marvellous collection as a wife, ensconced in her husband’s beautiful childhood home, begins to mistrust his version of his past, his affection no match for the erosion of her trust as his lies are revealed.

Equally devastating is Round Lake, where a young woman – slowly falling in love with an earnest man – finds her tender relationship coloured by the circumstances following her mother’s death.

Seasonal Folktales by Morvern Graham (Greenfinch £16.99, 192pp)

Bramble boggles, sea witches and selkies are the mysterious creatures that inhabit Graham’s enchanting retelling of classical folktales.

The stories are rooted in her deep empathy for the natural world. Beautifully illustrated by her magical prints, the tales journey from the wilds of Scotland to the icy landscapes of Scandinavia and follow the seasons, revealing how the goddess Mielikki painted autumn leaves in orange and yellow, and why march hares are mad.

Elsewhere, we meet Fionn MacCumhail, his clever wife Onnagh and rival Benandoner, discovering how they created the Giant’s Causeway, and learn a life lesson from Assipattle, the hero of The Mester Muckle Stoorworm, who saves a princess from a sea monster.

The Good Time by Nell Stevens (Scribner £16.99, 208pp)

Wry, wise and funny, these stories from the author of The Original are brimful of yearning – for love, for connection, for a place in a world that seems a good fit for the characters who question motherhood and relationships.

The collection opens with The Minutes and a young woman taking notes for an activist and their planned artistic action in a doomed block of flats, while revealing her attraction to a charismatic, but mercurial lecturer.

The titular tale reunites a group of old friends, years after the untimely death of one of their crew, while Pulse sees a pianist head to Warsaw to listen to (long dead) Chopin’s heart, overcome by her baby’s heartbeat, ‘urgent and imminent and potent and completely new . . .’