'Scanlan can make a sentence do the work of a page.' - Chris Power
'...a chiselled little gem about a horse trainer called Sonia...told in her unforgettably downbeat voice. Such poise and economy - I can't remember a novel about work that's impressed me so.' - Tim Winton
Based on transcribed interviews with a former racehorse trainer from Iowa, Kick the Latch is a stunning work of fiction that investigates form, authenticity and idiosyncratic speech. This is a patient and attentive exercise in radical listening, whittled, shaped and reimagined to tell the story of one woman's fine, hard, pungent life at the racetrack in 100 tough, side-of-the-mouth nuggets.