Granta 122: Betrayal

Snitches, liars, spies: treachery lies at the heart of our most dramatic stories. Yet the truly devastating betrayals come from our loved ones, our homes -and from within ourselves.

In a world of the future, people exist in a perpetual state of rehearsing evacuations, and one man's rehearsal involves leaving his parents behind. A firespotter knows all too well that where there's smoke, there's fire -but fails to spot the blaze that consumes half her family. Then there's the Custer impersonator who takes his role in a re-enactment too literally, and too far. And the massage therapist struggling to help a veteran whose biggest regret is tattooed across his back.

With award-winning reportage, memoir, fiction and photography, Granta has illuminated the most complex issues of modern life through the refractory light of literature. Feel the sting of betrayal via new writing by Ben Marcus, Janine di Giovanni, Samantha Harvey, Colin Robinson, Jennifer Vanderbes, Callan Wink, John Burnside, Andre Aciman and more.