This is not the kind of book to be read in one sitting. Even taking 10 or more of the 45 stories in one gulp could prove indigestible. The best idea is to dip into the stories one or two at a time, taking little sips.

As the title suggests, all the stories are about the pandemic, and mostly set in Melbourne, as a result of a 2021-22 writing competition conducted by that city’s Eastern Regional Library Service.

The competition called for pieces of fiction or non-fiction, recording the tempo of the times. Entries poured in, sad, funny, wry, furious, with many written in the first person, reinforcing the sense that the pandemic forced people back onto their own resources.

Winners were chosen, along with a selection for this book, reflecting what the judges considered the many facets of the pandemic experience.

The organisers hope that as the lockdowns and events of 2020 and 2021 fade as memories, future readers will use this anthology to experience the craziness, the scariness and the mind-numbing boringness of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, to the stories. Some of the early ones are about having a baby during the pandemic; working as a nurse garbed in full personal protection; the anguish of a grandchild separated from his grandparents; and watching from interstate as a family disintegrates under lockdown. My favourite was ‘Against All Odds’, a wry and funny account of an elderly couple living through lockdown.

But then there was the death of a beloved mother and grandmother in faraway, unreachable India; and the bleak journal entries of a mother whose child died of COVID.

There is plenty of introspection in this collection, and celebrations of small things. But take it in small doses or, like the pandemic, this anthology could be overwhelming.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville

Purchase the book from Eastern Regional Libraries

Tales from the Pandemic was a writing competition run between December 2021 and March 2022 asking for fiction or non-fiction about the experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. The brief was to capture ‘the tempo of the times’ so we could record it for future readers.

The response was much greater than expected and the standard of writing was high. Over 280 entries were received and the judges found the selection process challenging. The winning stories were, along with two others that were highly commended.