Description

‘I don’t know which is more amazing, Emma Cline’s understanding of human beings or her mastery of language’ Mark Haddon, bestselling author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Emma Cline’s stories consider the dark corners of human experience, exploring the fault lines of power between men and women, parents and children, past and present. A man travels to his son’s school to deal with the fallout of a violent attack and to make sure his son will not lose his college place. But what exactly has his son done? And who is to blame? A young woman trying to make it in LA, working in a clothes shop while taking acting classes, turns to a riskier way of making money but will be forced to confront the danger of the game she’s playing. And a family coming together for Christmas struggle to skate over the lingering darkness caused by the very ordinary brutality of a troubled husband and father.

These outstanding stories examine masculinity, male power and broken relationships, while revealing – with astonishing insight and clarity – those moments of misunderstanding that can have life-changing consequences. And there is an unexpected violence, ever-present but unseen, in the depiction of the complicated interactions between men and women, and families. Subtle, sophisticated and displaying an extraordinary understanding of human behaviour, these stories are unforgettable.

‘The pleasures here lie in an appreciation of Cline’s skilful and absorbing craft’ Sunday Times

Publisher Review

Cline is...adept at swirling little eddies of unease into motion... [In Daddy] the undercurrents of the unspoken, the unspeakable, carry you along -- Holly Williams * Observer * When I read Emma Cline I think of Mary Gaitskill's psychological acuity and of Joy Williams's sardonic gravitas. And yet something about Cline's intimate tone, her talent for conjuring the feeling of being alive, is entirely and uniquely her own -- Rachel Kushner These stories live in the odd corners of the world, Cline's talent at uncovering the seedy and somehow bringing it to beautiful light is brilliant. These are understated gems -- Daisy Johnson Cline is an astonishingly gifted stylist, but it is her piercing understanding of modern humiliation that makes these stories vibrate with life...brilliant -- Brandon Taylor * New York Times *