A Quill & Quire Best Book of the Year
A Globe & Mail Best Short Fiction Title
A National Post Best Short Fiction Title
A January Magazine Best Book of the Year
Shortlisted for the 2014 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
Longlisted for the 2014 Frank O'Connor Award
"Complicated, passionate, genuine."—Chatelaine
Women. Young women, old women. The hair-obsessed, the politically driven, the sure-footed, the bony-butted, the awkward and compulsive and alone. Sleep-deprived and testy. Exhausted and accepting. Among the innumerable wives, husbands, sisters, and in-laws vexed by short temper and insecurity throughout this short story collection, Cynthia Flood's protagonists stand out as citizens of a reality that the rest of the world will only partially understand. New from the Journey Prize-winning author, Red Girl Rat Boy is a collection of astonishing range and assured technique, whose voices—gothic, peculiar, domestic, and strange—remain as passionate and complex as ever.
Praise for Red Girl Rat Boy
“Revenge and politics season this potent and passionate collection of stories. Flood excavates indelible histories that haunt even those who've shaken the dust of the past." —Aritha van Herk, author of Judith
“Flood's eye is unflinching, her language energetic and precise, her vision bracing, passionate and entirely lacking in sentimentality."—Nancy Richler, author of The Imposter Bride
“The notary in 'Dirty Work' has 'retired from witnessing how rough human existence is.' Fortunately for us, Cynthia Flood has not ... these stories prove her to be among our great North American fiction writers."—Betsy Warland, author of Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing
“Raw energy is Cynthia Flood's territory. This is a superb collection."—Laurie Lewis, author of Little Comrades
“Cynthia Flood is full of surprises. If there's one thing that characterizes her elegant, crystal-sharp short stories, it's that element of surprise ... they reward the attentive reader with surprise and delight"—Dave Margoshes, author of A Book of Great Worth