“Beautifully crafted . . . the sentences in these stories are living and seamless, as if Lazarin had run her hand over them until they became smooth and gleaming with the evidence of her touch.” —Carmen Maria Machado, The New York Times Book Review From an award-winning writer, a stunning collection of stories about women’s unexpressed desires and needs, and the unexpected ways they resurface In “Floor Plans,” a woman at the end of her marriage tests her power when she inadvertently befriends the neighbor trying to buy her apartment. In “Appetite,” a sixteen-year old grieving her mother’s death experiences first love and questions how much more heartbreak she and her family can endure. In “Dinosaurs,” a recent widower and a young babysitter help each other navigate how much they have to give—and how much they can take—from the people around them. Through stories that are at once empathetic and unexpected, these women and girls defiantly push the boundaries between selfishness and self-possession. With a fresh voice and bold honesty, Back Talk examines how narrowly our culture allows women to express their desires. “Deceptively quiet but packs a powerful punch . . . The best collection I’ve read in years, from a phenomenal new talent.” —Celeste Ng NPR : Best Books of 2018 The Millions : The Great 2018 Book Preview Esquire : The Best Books of 2018 (So Far) Harper’s Bazaar : 14 New Books You Need to Read This February BookRiot : 101 Books Coming Out in 2018 That You Should Mark Down Now Southern Living : Books Coming Out This Winter That We Can’t Wait to Read Vulture : 7 New Books You Need to Read This February Bustle : The 15 Best Fiction Books Coming Out in February 2018 Refinery29 : The Best Books Of February Are All Right Here Oprah.com : 4 Books for a Holiday Weekend Nylon : The 10 Best Books To Read This February PopSugar : The 20 Best New Books to Read in February Thrillist : Best Books of 2018 (So Far) Dazed : Five Weird and Wonderful New Short Story Collections You Should Be Reading Library Journal : New Writers To Watch MyDomaine : The 20 Best Books of 2018 Vol.1 Brooklyn : February 2018 Book Preview Jetsetter : 8 Books to Add to Your February Reading List “Beautifully crafted . . . the sentences in these stories are living and seamless, as if Lazarin had run her hand over them until they became smooth and gleaming with the evidence of her touch. Yet they are not without viscera; sublimated rage fills the crevices between them. . . . These stories hand their warnings to us: Don’t be pleasant or easy to touch. Look mean for the camera. Just get up and go.” —Carmen Maria Machado, The New York Times Book Review “Intimate short stories . . . exploring the mixed blessing of human entanglement.” — New York Magazine “Danielle Lazarin’s first story collection, Back Talk , is a marvel of its kind, and it’s marvelous precisely in its Munrovian shiftiness, its ability to bend form and turn the story into something that is temporally and emotionally elastic.” — San Francisco Chronicle “Terrific.” — Chicago Tribune “This is the collection to read if you're hungering for the stories of women who subvert, who flick at the misogyny that surrounds them. I found myself shouting in recognition as Danielle Lazarin's expertly crafted characters extricate themselves from hostile relationships or snatch back the power that has been taken from them. Lazarin has a talent for crafting dynamics that are so real; the friendships, the families, the insidious ways women are undermined is all on display. Reading her work, and seeing her characters take up—and sometimes win—the fights I know so well is like taking sips of an antidote for the many things that afflict us women.” — NPR’s Best Books of 2018, Kat Chow , reporter, Code Switch “Long live the short story, as long as writers like Lazarin are here to keep the form fresh. . . . Short stories are like sideways glances or overheard whispers that become more, and Lazarin makes us believe there’s worth in stories that we can steal moments to experience.” — The Millions “[Danielle Lazarin] has the rare ability to evoke an entire ecosystem of human behavior—replete with decades of slights and longings—in just a few pages. The word ‘haunting’ is so often overused, but in this case, it is an accurate description of how these stories, set between New York and Paris, maneuver their way into your thoughts long after reading.” — Esquire “This fantastic debut short story collection is filled with excellent stories of women and girls, centering on their lives in a way that feels refreshingly real. If you couldn't get enough of ‘Cat Person,’ this collection should be next on your list. . . . [ Back Talk ] examines how narrowly our culture allows women to express their desires through stories that are all about women’s hidden yearnings, and the unexpected ways they surface.” — Bustle “[An] excellent short story collection . . .
