Random House
February 2015
On Sale: February 3, 2015
352 pages ISBN: 0804179689 EAN: 9780804179683 Kindle: B00MSS0WQY Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
She has been hailed by Michael Chabon as βthe most darkly playful voice in American fictionβ and by Neil Gaiman as βa national treasure.β Now Kelly Linkβs eagerly awaited new collectionβher first for adult readers in a decadeβproves indelibly that this bewitchingly original writer is among the finest we have.
Link has won an ardent following for her ability, with each new short story, to take readers deeply into an unforgettable, brilliantly constructed fictional universe. The nine exquisite examples in this collection show her in full command of her formidable powers. In βThe Summer People,β a young girl in rural North Carolina serves as uneasy caretaker to the mysterious, never-quite-glimpsed visitors who inhabit the cottage behind her house. In βI Can See Right Through You,β a middle-aged movie star makes a disturbing trip to the Florida swamp where his former on- and off-screen love interest is shooting a ghost-hunting reality show. In βThe New Boyfriend,β a suburban slumber party takes an unusual turn, and a teenage friendship is tested, when the spoiled birthday girl opens her big present: a life-size animated doll.
Hurricanes, astronauts, evil twins, bootleggers, Ouija boards, iguanas, The Wizard of Oz, superheroes, the Pyramids . . . These are just some of the talismans of an imagination as capacious and as full of wonder as that of any writer today. But as fantastical as these stories can be, they are always grounded by sly humor and an innate generosity of feeling for the frailtyβand the hidden strengthsβof human beings. In Get in Trouble, this one-of-a-kind talent expands the boundaries of what short fiction can do.