First published 2025
A writer becomes consumed by her latest fixation, losing herself in research that bleeds into obsession. Across town, a woman sells her body on her own terms, choosing clients and setting boundaries in a world that offers few guarantees. A teenage runaway searches for safety and connection, moving between temporary shelters and unstable relationships. Meanwhile, a young woman enters her first corporate job, learning to decode the unspoken rules of professional life while managing her own needs and ambitions. Each woman faces moments where desire collides with survival, where intimacy becomes a form of negotiation. The writer's obsession threatens to consume her other relationships. The sex worker weighs financial necessity against personal autonomy. The runaway discovers that escape often leads to new forms of vulnerability. The workplace newcomer realizes that power dynamics extend far beyond the office hierarchy. Gaitskill traces these parallel journeys with clinical precision, revealing how women create space for themselves in circumstances that offer limited choices.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, parallel-narratives
Period: 21st-Century
144 pages · Paperback · Penguin UK
Content warnings: explicit-sexual-content, mental-illness