The Beauty and the Hell of It & Other Stories

(Paperback)

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Description

A woman comes face to face with her rapist at his engagement party. A teen reluctantly celebrating the first Christmas after her mother's death gets caught cutting her wrists by a stranger. A student hands in a box of Kraft Dinner as her final assignment, and a bipolar art teacher grieves her divorce by online shopping. The Beauty and the Hell of It & Other Stories is a collection of stories about women (and one man) who quietly resist and the resulting moments of transition, acceptance, and vindication. Whether they wrestle with grief, growth, trauma, or all three, these characters don't give in to expectations about who or how they should be. These stories will appeal to readers who enjoyed the pivotal moments of ordinary life in Sophie Stocking's Walking Leonard and Other Stories and those who want a slice of contemporary womanhood served up with dark humour as offered in Meghan Bell's Erase and Rewind.

Reviews

Riveting and intimate, full of the wry, hard-won wisdom and bite of Mary Gaitskill and Loorie Moore. Lynda William's collection is some of the most exciting and beautiful short fiction I've had the privilege to work on.

Author Bio

Lynda Williams' stories have appeared in Grain, the Humber Literary Review, and The New Quarterly, among others. She holds a graduate certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers and is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award.