Description

With her novel The Visitors, Jessi Jezewska Stevens has proven herself as our preeminent purveyor of comical, techno-millenarian unease. Now, with this first collection of her acclaimed short fiction – originally appearing in such venues as The Paris Review and Harper’s – some of her very best work is at last readily available to readers. Stevens’s women throw disastrous parties in the post-party era, flirt through landscapes of terror and war, and find themselves unrecognisable after waking up with old flames in new cities. They navigate the labyrinths of history, love, and ethics in a fractured American present, seeing first-hand how history influences the ways in which we care for – or neglect – one another.

‘Stevens’ impeccable artistry manages to overlay the gauzy romance of the stranger in a strange land atop the grim economic and interpersonal realities that so often accompany relative youth, relative freedom, and relative love. Erudite, eloquent, and bittersweet-these stories are like chewing on the orange rind for a last bitter taste of the drink.’Kirkus Reviews

Publisher Review

‘Ghost Pains is a brilliant, sophisticated collection. Jessi Jezewska Stevens is one of the rare writers capable of taking both life and literature seriously while giving you reasons to laugh.’ Nell Zink —- ‘Jessi Jezewska Stevens’s stories gleam with their wonderfully bleak comic swerves, keen observation and fresh syntax. The world may be a goner, but short fiction is in good hands here. Ghost Pains is alive, an invigorating pleasure.’ Sam Lipsyte —- ‘I remember the first time I read a short story by Jessi Jezewska Stevens. I was immediately drawn to its strangely rhythmic sentences, its playful sense of humour. There is a brilliant feeling of both absurdity and sincerity in these stories, of the time we are living through. I know I will want to read her always.’ Amina Cain —- ‘Jessi Jezewska Stevens is a deft, wry stylist attuned to ‘the metaphysics of the moment’ and the machinations of late capital. These eleven rich, mysterious stories take us from Gettysburg to Berlin, from Siberia to the virtual, and always through the labyrinth of the heart. This is a happy haunting: the sharp, brainy, beautiful ache of Ghost Pains will linger long after its last page is turned.’ Justin Taylor —- ‘Gardens of forking paths, two-faced beauties, secret hundred-millionaires beset by digitally born imps, loads of snacks, and the city of Berlin all feature in these beguiling tales. Jessi Jezewska Stevens provides the best sort of brain massage: bittersweet, with flashes of philosophy.’ Lucy Ives