In this brave and dark collection Russell demonstrates both her ingenuity and range as an author. From an Orwellian tale in which former U.S. presidents are horses, to a Kafkaesque masquerade about human/silk-worm hybrids, no story is alike. The plots are disturbing yet wise and profound. Nothing is what it seems in Russell’s macabre landscape. Monsters disguise themselves in many forms, in the lust of two brothers for one girl, in the mischief of prepubescent boys and even in a pane of glass. Redemption comes in surprising ways, if at all. In Russel’s writing the inhuman evokes the human experience.
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