Butter: Novellas, Stories and Fragments

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'A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers' Tayari Jones, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE

'Gayl Jones is a literary legend' - Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of THERE ARE MORE THINGS

'Her prose is intricate, mesmerizing, and endlessly inventive and subversive' Deesha Philyaw, author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES

Gayl Jones's long career began with her blistering 1975 debut, Corregidora, which was edited by Toni Morrison, and she is increasingly recognised as one of the great literary writers of the twentieth century. In this new collection of short fiction, Jones's unique talents are displayed in a range of settings and styles, from the hyper-realist to the mystical, in novella-length stories, intricate multi-part narratives and in compelling fragments.

Endlessly inventive, challenging and surprising, Jones writes about our diverse world. Her characters are spies, photographers, baristas, cartoonists and revolutionaries; her settings are historical and contemporary, in Europe and the Americas. With sharp observation, wit and poignancy, Jones explores complex identities and unorthodox longings.

'Jones's writing powerfully blends narrative and lyricism . . . Her imagination seems to thrive on outstripping one's expectations' Margo Jefferson

'Every Jones publication is a major event, but this one is particularly precious . . . Jones's settings, which span time and geography, vary as much as the identities of her protagonists, which include women and men, Black, brown, and Indigenous people, artists and spies. The common threads are creativity and devastating insight' Oprah Daily, 'The Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2023'

Reviews

Gayl Jones's work represents a watershed in American literature. From a literary standpoint, her form is impeccable; from a historical standpoint, she stands at the very cutting edge of understanding the modern world, and as a Black woman writer, her truth-telling, filled with beauty, tragedy, humour, and incisiveness, is unmatched. Jones is a writer's writer, and her influence is found everywhere

-- Imani Perry
Her prose is intricate, mesmerizing, and endlessly inventive and subversive -- Deesha Philyaw, author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES
A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers -- Tayari Jones, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE
Gayl Jones is a literary legend -- Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Jones's writing powerfully blends narrative and lyricism . . . Her imagination seems to thrive on outstripping one's expectations -- Margo Jefferson
Every Jones publication is a major event, but this one is particularly precious. This wide ranging collection of short fiction is only the second by one of our most lauded literary authors. It includes two novella-length works and short stories that are diverse in every meaningful way possible. Jones's settings, which span time and geography, vary as much as the identities of her protagonists, which include women and men, Black, brown, and Indigenous people, artists and spies. The common threads are creativity and devastating insight * Oprah Daily, 'The Books We Cannot Wait to Read in 2023' *

Author Bio

Gayl Jones was born in Kentucky in 1949. She attended Connecticut College and Brown University and has taught at Wellesley and the University of Michigan. Her books include Corregidora (1975), Eva's Man (1976), The Healing (1998), which was a National Book Award finalist, Palmares (2021), which was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, and The Birdcatcher (2022), which was also a National Book Award Finalist.