You Have to Harden Your Heart in Times Like These is an immersion into the vibrant, raw, and dynamic heart of Kingston’s urban sprawl. Moving from among those who live in and on the edge of gullies – the arteries of the city – to the sprawling mansions with their manicured lawns on its outskirts, these visceral stories are unflinching as they expose the taut, turbulent dynamics pulsing beneath the surface of the Caribbean city.

With riveting, sometimes muscular prose and searing insight, this collection of contemporary Jamaican short stories and flash fiction present a kaleidoscope of narratives that dive unflinchingly into the darkness. They brim with the unfiltered energy, profound truths, and disquieting power of our churning shared experiences. Several of the stories capture the ethos of the oral narrative, breaking free from grammar to present a breathless narrative.

The stories in this thematically eclectic collection present a potent literary journey awash in the primal energy coursing through Jamaica’s complex human tapestry – the poignant and evocative, the depraved and transcendent and always, the flawed.

These contemporary stories will linger long after the final page. Kim Robinson-Walcott is a masterful Caribbean writer.