Book description
On Strong Beach, an awkward teen with a terrible haircut has a
reversal of fortune when he finds artefacts from the future lining a
seagulls' nest. By the Hox River in Nebraska, a window fuels both
family pride and deadly revenge. In a godforsaken barn in what they
suspect is Kentucky, Presidents Eisenhower, John Adams and Rutherford
B. Hayes are bemused to find themselves reincarnated as horses. And in
the collection's title story, Clyde and Magreb - he a traditional
capes-and-coffins vampire, she the more progressive variety - settle
in an Italian lemon grove in the hope that its ripe fruit will keep
their thirst for blood at bay.
Karen Russell is an audacious talent with a wicked sense of humour,
and this hotly anticipated new collection confirms her place as a
master of the short story form, and one of the most imaginative young
writers at work today.
Karen Russell, a native of Miami, has been featured in the
New Yorker's
debut fiction issue, was chosen as one of
Granta
's Best Young American Novelists in 2007, and was most recently named
one of
New Yorker
magazine's 20 Under 40. Her first collection of short stories,
St
Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,
was longlisted for the
Guardian
first book award. Her novel,
Swamplandia!
, was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize and shortlisted for the 2012
Pulitzer Prize.
