Unsettling and perceptive, these short stories challenge American girlhood in
all its delusions, conflicting messages, and treacherous terrain. Wide- and
wise-eyed, mysterious girls leave their realities behind for strange and
slightly unreal places at the edges of the country. Alternatively they hover
over their Midwestern homes in interior worlds of their own creation. The
stories in Elegies for Uncanny Girls stand at a boundary where both the girls'
bodies and their tales are either their own or laid claim to by the culture and
characters that surround them. A young woman whose body continually shrinks and
expands moves to Los Angeles to make a movie about tragic merpeople; bewildered
and seeking guidance, a new mom strikes up a conversation with a woman with
detachable hands; and spurred on by a new ally who might just be a figment of
her imagination, a girl decides she can choose her own friends.
Author Biography
Jennifer Colville is the founding editor of PromptPress, a journal for visual
art. She holds an MFA from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in English and
Creative Writing from the University of Utah. She lives in Iowa City with her
husband and two children.
