Difficult Women

Gay (Bad Feminist) pens a powerful collection of short stories about difficult, troubled, headstrong, and unconventional women. “I Will Follow You” tracks the bond of two adult sisters who refuse to live in fear after being kidnapped and assaulted as young girls. In “The Mark of Cain,” a wife pretends not to know that her abusive husband has swapped places with his kinder identical twin, who doesn’t beat her. The darkly humorous title story outlines the traits of different types of “difficult women” in flash-style vignettes. A jilted woman recovering from delivering a stillborn child finds love far from her home and past in “North Country.” And in “Break All the Way Down,” a couple learns to overcome their guilt and grief over the death of their son when they are handed a new child by a mother who can’t care for her. Whether focusing on assault survivors, single mothers, or women who drown their guilt in wine and bad boyfriends, Gay’s fantastic collection is challenging, quirky, and memorable. Agent: Maria Massie, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. (Jan.)