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from TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press
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—Carolyn Parkhurst, New York Times bestselling author of The Dogs of Babel and Harmony
Miranda Weber is a hot mess. In Paula Whyman’s debut collection of stories, we find her hoarding duct tape to ward off terrorists, stumbling into a drug run with a crackhead, and – frequently – enduring the bad behavior of men. A drivers’ education class pulsing with racial tension is the unexpected context of her sexual awakening. As she comes of age, and in the three decades that follow, the potential for violence always hovers nearby. She’s haunted by the fate of her disabled sister and – thanks to the crack cocaine epidemic of the 80s, the wars in the Middle East, and the sniper attacks – the threat of crime and terror in her hometown of Washington, D.C. Miranda can be lascivious, sardonic, and maddeningly self-destructive, but, no matter what befalls her, she never loses her sharp wit or powers of observation, which illuminate both her own life and her strange, unsettling times.
Praise for You May See A Stranger
“Honest and sharply observed . . . Together, these smart, artful stories capture a woman’s life and the moments that define her.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review/Big Debut/Pick-of-the-Week
“The way the past and present resonate in [Miranda’s] mind is beautifully done.”
—Bill Goldstein, NBC-TV New York, Hot Summer Reads, Bill’s Books
“A delicate balance of mundane moments and acute ones, often depicting instances “in which everything seems, not perfect but imperfectly right.” … [D]eftly layers harshness over ostensibly happy events.”
—The New Yorker
“This funny, tough, clear-eyed collection of linked stories will take over your life, refusing to be put down until you’ve reached its last shattering sentence. Capturing the brutal minutiae of women’s lives, steeped in pop music, and fumbling toward spun candy visions of happiness, Whyman’s tales will simultaneously scare you and charm you, repel and seduce. My only advice: succumb.”
—Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year
“Paula Whyman’s greatest talent is her ability to turn a life inside out and expose its hidden seams. Her characters are masterfully human, funny and flawed and real, buried (as we all are) underneath an accumulation of moments and trying to figure out how to claim authorship of their own life stories.”
—Carolyn Parkhurst, New York Times bestselling author of The Dogs of Babel
“Not a false note. These stories are smart and edgy, surprising yet subtle. The characters are presented with much affection, no sentimentality and complete honesty.”
—Percival Everett, author of Erasure and Half an Inch of Water
“Paula Whyman has produced a powerful, poignant, and at times very funny collection of connected stories. There is something incredibly satisfying as we watch Miranda Weber grow older, but not that much wiser. Whyman captures her characters in all their foibles with startling precision. Indeed it seems as if she is playing a tough game of literary darts, and she hits a bullseye every time.”
– Mary Morris, author of The Jazz Palace and Nothing to Declare
“Paula Whyman’s radiant, urgent stories, about the irresistibly frank Miranda Weber, erupt with flirting and fury and sex. I’d follow her anywhere.”
– Dylan Landis, author of Rainey Royal and Normal People Don’t Live Like This