First published 2003
Martha makes her living stealing from stores, but pregnancy changes everything. She tries to use her condition as cover for bigger thefts, only to find her fetus can speak to her and harbors disturbing intentions. In another story, sixteen-year-old Layla gets the nose job she desperately wants, but the surgery reveals her strangeness runs much deeper than appearance. The operation unleashes something violent within her. Wesley appears across three connected tales as a damaged young man whose every attempt at normal life fails spectacularly. A middle-aged woman abandoned by her husband meets peculiar strangers who teach her she never needed him at all. They show her what real desire feels like. These characters live on society's edges, pursuing extreme behavior because ordinary life cannot contain them. They glimpse the weird truth beneath everyday existence, finding liberation in their alienation.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, magical-realism, psychological-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Paperback · Flamingo
Content warnings: violence