In this dazzling premier collection, Leni Zumas shines a bright light
into the far corners of a dark, dreamlike America populated by a cast of
characters on the brink of survival. With the Gothic style of Flannery
O'Connor, the urgent lyricism of Jayne Anne Phillips, and the quirky
humor of Sam Lipsyte and George Saunders, Zumas blends a lyrical, poetic
voice with remarkably original storytelling. A teenage boy finds his
blind mother making a pass at his new best friend; a lonely woman works
in a pillow factory by day and at night tends to a menagerie of sick
animals; an aspiring witch is disillusioned by her spiritual
shortcomings; a girl from a town so small it doesn't exist on any map
runs away with a rock band. The odds stacked against them, these
lovingly rendered outsiders find redemption in the unlikeliest of
circumstances. Zumas so skillfully intertwines the utterly fantastic
with the absolutely believable that the reader has no choice but to
follow in fascination and wonder. Even the most surreal moments take on
a surprising familiarity, and the bleakest moments are imbued with
unexpected hope. To become engrossed in Zumas's world is a strange and
beautiful delight.