Debut Books

A Book So Red – Rachel Levy

by

Desire expands, complicates (to staples, to other women) when you fuck with clichés.

Ismael and His Sisters – Louise Stern

by

Stern has brilliantly found a way for her words to tell, and not just show.

Viper Wine – Hermione Eyre

by

Viper Wine whispers beyond its pages, reappearing in glossy advertisements of Elle and in strange-tasting rouged lips.

The University of Pennsylvania – Caren Beilin

by

Suffused with the unwieldy body historically associated with femininity, Beilin’s work is evasive, unruly, nonsensical.

Find Me – Laura van den Berg

by

Unlike other stories about the apocalypse, this book is tender.

Rewrite – Temenuga Trifonova

by

Trifonova forces the reader to reassess the opinions and institutions that validate the knowledge we have both of ourselves and of others.

The Maggot People – Henning Koch

by

Serious, grotesque absurdity: The Master and Margarita as written by William Burroughs, a politico-religious sci-fi thriller with talking dogs and immortal maggot people.

The Wallcreeper – Nell Zink

by

David Sedaris once quipped that speaking German is like speaking English but sideways. Reading The Wallcreeper — which happens, incidentally, to be set in mostly German-speaking places — feels like reading but sideways.

The Last Projector – David James Keaton

by

Everything from car accidents and vicious dog attacks to a broken penis and punches to the face are hurled at the reader without any time for rest.

McGlue – Ottessa Moshfegh

by

McGlue is covered in a lush filth.