From a ferocious new talent, a story collection excavating the desire, humor, and horror in the everyday lives of Black women and girls—for readers of Deesha Philyaw and Kelly Link.

Set in the American South, Lydia Mathis’s debut collection has a voice that vibrates on the page and her sharply drawn, authentic characters shine a light on what we’re willing to do to ourselves and to others in service of our desires. The madness in the ordinary rules here: an overworked college safety officer is confronted by a bloody figure who walks into her office; a sex worker runs into a client en route to a parent-teacher conference; a teacher is plagued by a ghost determined to tidy her apartment.

In unflinching prose, Mathis takes a frank and determined look at girls and women subjected to imbalances of power. These stories refuse to look away from the most honest, raw moments of womanhood. Desperate Bodies is a thrilling ride that introduces Lydia Mathis as a major new writer.