An arresting, discomforting collection from 'one of Britain's best young short story writers' (The Telegraph) that revels in the rotten and festers in the imagination.
A little girl throws up Gloria-Jean's teeth after an explosion at the custard factory; Pax, Alexander, and Angelo are hypnotically enthralled by a book that promises them enlightenment if they keep their semen inside their bodies; Victoria is sent to a cursed hotel for ailing girls when her period mysteriously stops. In a damp, putrid spa, the exploitative drudgery of work sparks revolt; in a Margate museum, the new Director curates a venomous garden for public consumption.
In Grudova's unforgettably surreal style, these stories expose the absurdities behind contemporary ideas of
work, Britishness and art-making, to conjure a singular, startling strangeness that proves the deft skill of a writer
at the top of her game.
