LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE "One of the most startlingly original writers we've got." --A K Blakemore, Guardian From the author of The Doll's Alphabet and Children of Paradise, Camilla Grudova conjures, once again, a singular, startling strangeness that proves the deft skill of a writer at the top of her game. 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 her U.S. debut, Grudova's dreamlike, surrealist style in these stories exposes the crumbling old world charm of Britain, the absurdities behind contemporary ideas of work and art-making, and will haunt you well into the night.