Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club - And Other Stories - cover

The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club - And Other Stories

Julia Slavin

Publisher: Open Road Media

  • 0
  • 1
  • 0

Summary

A New York Times Notable Book: Darkly comic fables of modern life from a “major discovery” whose “writing gets in your bloodstream like a fever” (The Washington Post Book World).   A housewife with a ravenous lust for the adolescent boy who mows her lawn swallows him whole. A woman nonchalantly hacks off her leg at a posh private club. A father babyproofs his house so thoroughly he never sees his wife and child. And a businessman passing through an airport risks it all to save a giant lobster from death.   In these “brisk, funny, stylish, original” stories, the award-winning author of Carnivore Diet merges the mundane with the unimaginable, and peels back the squeaky-clean façade of suburbia to expose the strangeness underneath (Elle). Combining biting wit, wild imagination, and “unsettling, hallucinatory” prose, Julia Slavin masterfully satirizes the world of upscale families and young professionals as they confront their greatest fantasies and most grotesque fears in unexpected, and often hilarious, ways (The New York Times Book Review).  
Available since: 01/09/2018.
Print length: 222 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Collected Stories - cover

    The Collected Stories

    Leonard Michaels

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    “Larky, fitfully brilliant . . . Leonard Michaels’s stories stand alongside those of his best Jewish contemporaries—Grace Paley and Philip Roth.” —Mona Simpson, The New York Times Book Review 
     
    Leonard Michaels was a master of the short story. His collections are among the most admired, influential, and exciting of the last half century. The Collected Stories brings them back into print, from the astonishing debut ”Going Places” (1969) to the uncollected last stories, unavailable since they appeared in The New Yorker, Threepenny Review, and Partisan Review. 
     
    At every stage in his career, Michaels produced taut, spare tales of sex, love, and other adult intimacies: gossip, argument, friendship, guilt, rage. A fearless writer—”destructive, joyful, brilliant, purely creative,” in the words of John Hawkes—Michaels probed his characters’ motivations with brutal humor and startling frankness. Remarkable for its compression and cadences, his prose is nothing short of addictive. 
     
    The Collected Stories is a landmark. 
     
    “Every page reveals the mark of an extraordinarily original and gifted talent.” —William Styron 
     
    “Anyone concerned with the American short story should read and know these stories.” —Charles Baxter, San Francisco Chronicle
    Show book
  • The Snow - cover

    The Snow

    Hugh Walpole

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0
    Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day."The Snow" is a multilayered ghost story in which the phantom of a jealous and vindictive first wife seems to haunt the new young bride of her husband. As the cracks in their relationship widen, the malevolent ghost tightens her evil grip on the second wife.
    Show book
  • These Precious Hours - cover

    These Precious Hours

    Michael Corrigan

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    These Precious Hours is a collection of related and interconnected stories concerning loss and recovery. At the end, many of the characters meet.Declan Mulligan has lost a wife and visits Ireland to connect with a remote past. Dexter Flanagan has lost a beautiful woman to another, but writes a great love song. After a personal tragedy, Sean Dineen joins his ailing ex-wife to see the wedding of their son in Paraguay.About the author: Michael Corrigan holds an MA in English from San Francisco State and attended the American Film Institute. He worked with several theatre artists, including Sam Shepard and Peter Coyote, and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his story, "Free Fall". Idaho State University Press published his grief memoir, A Year and a Day, dedicated to his late wife, Karen. These Precious Hours is his fifth book.
    Show book
  • California Dreamin' Collection - Six Contemporary Romance Novellas - cover

    California Dreamin' Collection -...

    Heather B. Moore, Kaylee...

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Sun, sand, and a chance for love. There’s just something special about a romance in California, and this collection will bring you a much-needed beach escape. 
     
    In the sweet novella Too Good to Be True by Heather B. Moore, Gwen uses her wedding photography business to keep her life simple and focus on something other than her own broken heart. When Jack, a guy too handsome for his own good, helps her clean up after a photoshoot, then asks her out, she doesn’t know if she can handle dating again. But Jack’s charm wins her over, and she agrees to meet him for dinner. The more she gets to know Jack, the more she likes him, but everything about him seems too good to be true. 
     
    Gone Fishing, a charming novella by Kaylee Baldwin, follows Claire as she tries to convince her dad to leave his start-up company as a boat guide and come back home to Colorado. He’s the only one who can defend Claire against her domineering mother. But when she arrives at the San Diego harbor, she’s met with more than one surprise. First, that her dad is truly living his dream and has never been happier, and second, she’s unexpectedly attracted to his business partner, Miguel. 
     
    In The Pier Changes Everything, an enchanting novella by Annette Lyon, Alexandria has one last task to perform for her late husband, who died much too young: scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. She goes to the Santa Monica Pier to do just that, but her plans get sidetracked after meeting Michael and feeling an immediate connection to him. They grab lunch, and the more time they spend together, the more they discover that they have in common—including past romantic hardships. As the day wears on, Alexandria begins learn that her heart just might be able to find love again. 
     
    In Jennifer Moore’s captivating novella A Hero’s Song, AnneMarie’s career as a romance novelist is skyrocketing and her agent books her on a late night talk show. The host gets her to admit that she was in love once, with a guitar player. Moments after her segment, Lance Holden appears on the same stage, to perform his newest song. Is it a terrible coincidence? AnneMarie hasn’t seen Lance ever since he broke her heart ten years ago, and she has refused to think about him again. Their lives are worlds apart, but as Lance tries to reconcile with AnneMarie, she finds herself taking a second chance. 
     
    In Stay with Me, an endearing novella by Shannon Guymon, Jolie moves to L.A. to take on a nanny position for the summer, since apparently having a degree in art doesn’t translate to getting a job as a graphic designer. When Fitz, the family’s chauffeur, picks her up at the airport, she wonders if every man in LA is model-gorgeous. When Jolie meets her two charges, she finds them adorable and needy. But it’s harder to hold onto her job than she thought with a hostile Mrs. James and her spoiled brother. Fitz becomes both the silver lining of her job and the man who just might convince her to stay in L.A. 
     
    In the delightful novella, A Place to Call Home by Sarah M. Eden, Ada is the best realtor around. The best. She prides herself in matching each client with the house that will fit all of their needs. She hasn’t failed yet. So when Craig hires her to find him the perfect condo for him and his son, Ada is up for the challenge. What she may not be prepared for is her unforeseen attraction to Craig, her immediate attachment to his nine-year-old son, and her heart telling her that it’s okay to take another chance.
    Show book
  • A Patch on the Quilt - cover

    A Patch on the Quilt

    Sapper

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Herman Cyril McNeile, MC (1888 - 1937), who wrote under the pseudonym "Sapper", was a British soldier and author.A Patch on the Quilt is a short story about an actor who is pursued by a strange woman at the theatre with a very odd request. She has attended every performance of his play since it started, skipping meals to afford the tickets. She now wants him to come with her to a house in Kensington after his performance...which she says is part of her 'plan'. But who is this person and what could she possibly want from him?
    Show book
  • The Swiss Family Robinson - cover

    The Swiss Family Robinson

    Johann David Wyss

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Following a wild and raging storm, the Swiss family Robinson are stranded at sea. But the thundering waves have swept them off to a tropical island, where a new life awaits them. Shipwrecked passengers on a deserted island: how will they survive? Their ship is laden with supplies and the island is packed with treasures, so they soon adapt and discover new dangers and delights every day.
    Show book