Publisher's Synopsis
A Quill & Quire Best Book of the YearA Globe & Mail Best Short Fiction TitleA National Post Best Short Fiction TitleA January Magazine Best Book of the YearShortlisted for the 2014 Ethel Wilson Fiction PrizeLonglisted for the 2014 Frank O'Connor Award"Complicated, passionate, genuine."ChatelaineWomen. Young women, old women. The hair-obsessed, the politically driven, the sure-footed, the bony-butted, the awkward and compulsive and alone. Sleep-deprived and testy. Exhausted and accepting. Among the innumerable wives, husbands, sisters, and in-laws vexed by short temper and insecurity throughout this short story collection, Cynthia Flood's protagonists stand out as citizens of a reality that the rest of the world will only partially understand. New from the Journey Prize-winning author, Red Girl Rat Boy is a collection of astonishing range and assured technique, whose voicesgothic, peculiar, domestic, and strangeremain as passionate and complex as ever.Praise for Red Girl Rat BoyRevenge and politics season this potent and passionate collection of stories. Flood excavates indelible histories that haunt even those who've shaken the dust of the past." Aritha van Herk, author of JudithFlood's eye is unflinching, her language energetic and precise, her vision bracing, passionate and entirely lacking in sentimentality."Nancy Richler, author of The Imposter BrideThe notary in Dirty Work' has retired from witnessing how rough human existence is.' Fortunately for us, Cynthia Flood has not these stories prove her to be among our great North American fiction writers."Betsy Warland, author of Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of WritingRaw energy is Cynthia Flood's territory. This is a superb collection."Laurie Lewis, author of Little ComradesCynthia Flood is full of surprises. If there's one thing that characterizes her elegant, crystal-sharp short stories, it's that element of surprise they reward the attentive reader with surprise and delight"Dave Margoshes, author of A Book of Great Worth.
