Each short story is written in 1st person, present tense from that particular protagonist’s POV, telling us his/her own story through their actions and thoughts.

The collection reveals the story of one of the characters who is the protagonist of the entire collection.(but not present in every story) No one knows they have impacted her life or are presently impacting her life; they are just telling their stories. The protagonist doesn't know either until the end.

The stories are so linked I think it is a novel. My problem is that as readers we want something overall to hang on to and with each story changing who is telling story I'm not giving readers that 'hold.'

I am writing a collection of short stories. Each short story is written in 1st person present tense from that particular protagonist’s POV, telling us his/her own story through their actions and thoughts.

The collection reveals the story of one of the characters who is the protagonist of the entire collection.  (However, she is not present in every story.) No one knows they have impacted her life or are presently impacting her life; they are just telling their stories. The protagonist doesn't know either until the end.

The stories are so linked I think it is a novel. My problem is that as readers we want something overall to hang on to and with each story changing who is telling story I'm not giving readers that 'hold.' Do I need a narrator or a thread throughout my stories? And if so, what character would that be?

Each short stories is in 1st person, present tense from that particular protagonist POV, telling us his/her own story through their actions and thoughts. However, all the stories together are revealing the story of one of the characters who is the protagonist of the entire collection.(but not present in every story) No one knows they have impacted her life or are presently impacting her life; they are just telling their stories. The protagonist doesn't know either until the end. The stories are so linked I think it is a novel. My problem is that as readers we want something overall to hang on to and with each story changing who is telling story I'm not giving readers that 'hold.'

Each short story is written in 1st person, present tense from that particular protagonist’s POV, telling us his/her own story through their actions and thoughts.

The collection reveals the story of one of the characters who is the protagonist of the entire collection.(but not present in every story) No one knows they have impacted her life or are presently impacting her life; they are just telling their stories. The protagonist doesn't know either until the end. 

The stories are so linked I think it is a novel. My problem is that as readers we want something overall to hang on to and with each story changing who is telling story I'm not giving readers that 'hold.'