Difficult Women

"The dedication of this short story collection could be its mission statement: “For difficult women, who should be celebrated for their very nature.” The women in these stories are branded difficult – sisters with a telepathic bond, a wife who knows her husband switched place with his identical twin, a student working as an exotic dancer, an academic in a relationship with a working-class man. But Gay celebrates them and reveals the extraordinary obstacles ordinary women face in order to survive. I feel like our understanding of the “difficult” woman is evolving, so I hope readers find this collection illuminating."

"I'm getting _my life_ from it! From the very first chapter about sisters who survived a kidnapping as children, I was hooked. Roxane Gay seems to have a knack for fearlessly telling the truth."