Twenty Grand

New York Times Notable Book: "Satisfyingly bittersweet" short fiction about young women confronting the vagaries of fortune ( Los Angeles Times). In "Hungry Self," a young waitress descends into the basement of a seemingly ordinary Chinese restaurant; in "Twenty Grand," a wife tries to recover her lost fortune; in "Monsters," one family's paranoia leads to a sacrifice; and in "The Witches," an innocent swim on prom night proves more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. In this dazzling literary debut, Rebecca Curtis displays the elegant prose and wicked sense of humor that make her one of the most talented writers of her generation. Her characters—young women struggling to find happiness, love, success, security, and adventure—wait tables, run away from home, fall for married men, betray their friends, and find themselves betrayed as well. "Terrific . . . If you're interested in the strangeness and sorrow of life—in the small and large interactions that are sometimes horrifying, sometimes merely cringe-inducing and occasionally lovely—you'll find much to admire in Twenty Grand." — The New York Times "Marvelous." — Publishers Weekly "Gorgeous . . . suffused with longing." — Los Angeles Times "A book as delightful as it is disturbing. In a world of smug lies, Curtis writes exactly what needs to be written, and she writes it beautifully." —Gary Shteyngart, New York Times–bestselling author of Our Country Friends "Curtis's stories are formally dazzling, funny, edgy, taut . . . They are scary and heartbreaking, and after reading them you'll see America differently." —George Saunders, New York Times–bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo