Now best known for his international bestselling fiction novels such as Boy Swallows Universe, author Trent Dalton was (and is) an award-winning journalist who has always been interested in collecting the fascinating stories of people’s lives and committing them to paper. In his collection Love Stories (Harper Collins 2021), he uses his creative non-fiction writing ability to collate a myriad of tales about love, its history, its meaning and its longevity.
In 2021, Dalton spent two months sitting in the Queen Street Mall on a busy Brisbane CBD street corner, with a sign stating: ‘Sentimental Writer Collecting Love Stories’. He had with him an old, traditional Olivetti typewriter, a precious gift from a beloved friend who had recently passed away and bequeathed it to him. What a way to make use of such a special gift.
With the mindset of ‘if you build it, they will come’, Dalton sat on his corner and waited. Waited for people off the street, young and old, wealthy or homeless, those busy and rushed and those with all the time in the world. Curious people approached cautiously and ended up sharing their life’s story. Mall regulars kept him regularly updated on their own lives. Tourists shared tales that were funny or heartbreaking or wise.
But they all spoke of love.
Every single person had a story of love: of love found or lost, love unrequited, the tragedy of love left behind after someone has died, unexpected love, surprising love, love that took hold of someone’s heart and never let go. People spoke of the love they felt that day, there in the Mall, holding their partner’s hand. Or of the love of their life that they broke up with last week. Or the person they were not allowed to love 50 years ago who has nevertheless stayed in their heart.
Dalton’s keen eye for observational detail translates to stories written with exquisite and intimate specificities – colours, sounds, music, feelings, memories, smells, tastes – all are woven together to create a magical map of love across the ages. His journalism nose sniffs out the juicy details and encourages even the most reticent person to reveal their innermost thoughts. Each story builds on the one before, creating a towering and mesmerising labour of love in all its forms.
Yes, Dalton is sentimental, mawkish, corny, sappy and romantic. But rather than try to avoid this, he leans into it in a way only he can, proudly pronouncing himself a ‘cheesy cheeseball’ who loves everything about love and wants others to know it and love it too. The individual stories are punctuated with epiphanies he immediately types: Love makes you a mountaineer. Love is our most important mystery. Love is a fistful of the time you can’t get back. Love is a stranger stepping back into the past. Love is exposing all the pieces. Love is a necessity not a luxury. Love is never knowing how lucky you are to have it. Love is mending the broken things. Love is taking all the rain for yourself. Love is fundamental.
The collection is book-ended by letters typed to Dalton’s typewriter friend, and the book is interwoven throughout with some of his own personal story and that of his friends and family. It seems that through osmosis, some getting of wisdom happens as he collects these stories and commits them to paper; he ponders more thoughtfully on his own life and loves, and on how lucky he has been – and is – despite challenging circumstances in his earlier life.
This book contains every metaphor ever linked with love: blooming flowers, poetry, natural beauty, friendship, family ties, memories, hard times, good times, grief and loss, perfect weddings, unexpected reunions, impossible flushes of love between strangers, the solidity of lifelong companionship, the compromises, the random acts of kindness, the bold shows of commitment, the little things, the words whispered, a smell, a touch, a warm breath.
This is a book for those who may have given up on love and need reminding of its ubiquitous presence. It’s a book for those who have loved and lost, for those in the throes of passion, for those who feel unloved and for those who are seeking love. It is for all the lovers and dreamers, the pragmatists and the magical, the kids starting out and the elderly looking at their lives in the rear-view mirror. This is a book for anyone who wants to feel better, who wants to feel validated and seen and heard. A book for all the corny cheeseballs out there who still believe that love is the answer, and it is up to us to find the question.
(I had avoided reading this book because of the loss of my own beloved daughter who became terminally ill in early 2022, but as is often the case with stories, I found this a balm and a comfort.)