Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories

Written by Kelly Barnhill

Narrated by John Lee

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Kelly Barnhill comes a stunning collection of nine stories teeming with uncanny characters whose lives unfold in worlds at once strikingly human and eerily original.

When Mrs. Sorensen's husband dies, she rekindles a long-dormant love with an unsuitable mate in "Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch." In "Open the Door and the Light Pours Through," a young man wrestles with grief and his sexuality in an exchange of letters with his faraway beloved. "Dreadful Young Ladies" demonstrates the strength and power-known and unknown-of the imagination. The World Fantasy Award-winning novella The Unlicensed Magician introduces the secret, magical life of an invisible girl once left for dead.

By an author hailed as "a fantasist on the order of Neil Gaiman" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), the stories in Dreadful Young Ladies feature bold, reality-bending fantasy underscored by rich universal themes of love, death, jealousy, and hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Feb 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781684411610

Kelly Barnhill

KELLY BARNHILL lives in Minnesota with her husband and three children. She is the author of four novels, most recently The Girl Who Drank the Moon, winner of the 2017 John Newbery Medal. She is also the winner of the World Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, a Nebula Award, and the PEN/USA literary prize. Visit her online at www.kellybarnhill.com or on Twitter: @kellybarnhill.

Reviews for Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories

[Jennifer Iserloh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful told, fun quirky characters and lyrical passages, I loved this book! Highly recommend.

[vlmecc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this quirky book of dark fantasy short stories!

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved the first two thirds of this collection - the last story just went on way too long...

[antmusic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow. This was so interesting! NOT a kids book for sure, but I guess "Young Adult" (maybe even 16 and up?) would define it? Maybe older. I thought it was for younger audiences at first... I was wrong, so be warned at that.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher.*As a whole, I enjoyed this collection of stories (even through I'm not that big of a short-story fan to start with). Some, of course, stand out more than others and it's helpful that the final story of the Unlicensed Magician is one of the best pieces I've encountered lately. It's hard to tell an impactful tale in such a compressed format, but Kelly Barnhill displays that she can do this adeptly. I loved the fantasy elements of a number of these stories and look forward to reading more of this author's work.

[jamesgwld · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of short stories are very powerful with whimsical, poetic storytelling. Some of the stories fall flat while others stick heavy long after reading/hearing the stories. "The Unlicensed Magician" was by far the best part of this book. It finished the stories out with a bang. Barnhill writes with a Gaiman-esque fantastical tone with unrepentant social cues. "Elegy to Gabrielle" was a strong runner up. Most of the stories were good even if there were moments of confusion, but "The Insect and the Astronomer" was a dud. Overall, a wonderful collection from a wonderful storyteller.

[elzbthp · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audiobook version of this collection of stories, compliments of LibraryThing's early review program. I absolutely loved it, each and every story. The audiobook is narrated by John Lee, whose odd, slightly stiff accent I don't usually care for. But his odd voice is a perfect match for Barnhill's odd stories, and listening was bliss.The stories are odd in the best way. While Barnhill's work is uniquely her own, still, each story evoked a flicker of some of my other favorites. The constant presence of insects, particularly in "The Insect and the Astronomer," is appealingly Kafkaesque; the title story felt like it should have been illustrated by Edward Gorey, with its Gashlycrumb gallery of dreadful ladies; in several of the stories, especially the opener, "Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch," I felt the ghost of Angela Carter whisp through; and the last story, "The unlicensed Magician," is set in a dystopian world where children who are born with magical abilities are offered up to the grand, governmental Minister, reminded me, vaguely, of the world of Hunger Games.Kelly Barnhill is a new favorite, and I will be going back to read everything else she's written. I had no idea, until I was preparing this review and looking through her bibliography, that she authored "The Girl Who Drank the Moon," a middle-grade novel that had completely captivated my 12-year old daughter when she read it last year.

[niquetteb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this collection of short stories in exchange for a review as a book on cd. The stories are other worldly and rich in descriptions. The narrator had excellent annunciation. There was a mix oddities and unique strangeness that I enjoyed. It was a little difficult to tell when one story ended and another began when listening rather than reading. I am slightly haunted by some of the bizarre images that the author provided, which is a pleasing feeling.

[vnesting-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This short-story collection, from the vivid imagination of Kelly Barnhill, is captivating. Listening to it on audio is both a wonderful and challenging experience. John Lee does a superb job of narrating these odd and magical tales, but one has to listen closely or you will miss out on Barnhill's subtle use of language and the ingenious little twists in her plots. So good I want to go back and listen to or read them all again.

[danajean_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a wonderful audio. I just fell in love with the narrator, John Lee. He was absolutely fantastic in bringing these magical, whimsical, fairy tale-like stories to life. I enjoyed each one.

[librarianryan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an interesting set of stories to listen to, although I might have liked them more if I had read them. The narrator gives a perfectly creepy rendition of the stories, but it was hard to tell when one story ended and another began. The first story was probably my favorite about a widow who falls in love with a sasquatch. My second favorite story was apparently an award winner about an invisible girl who haunts the place she was left to die. Overall I enjoyed the stories, but would need many listenings to pick up everything I missed, and I am not sure I want to listen to it again.

[tenamouse67 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Narrator John Lee set me up; like an old-fashioned radio program, I was hooked. I was hanging on every nuance, every breath, every pause to glean the next moment of each story. The stories are well written, with spins and twists; some I didn't really like, a few I will carry in my head forever, but all are oddly unique. A true anthology of intriguing snaps and magical snippets by author by Kelly Barnhill. ** I won this in an Early Readers program from LibraryThing.

[readafew · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A strange collection of short stories. Some I didn't understand at all, some I thought were absolutely fabulous. My favorite was the last one, The Unlicensed Magician. The whole book on CD is only 7.5 hours long and I think it is worth the listen.

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m not ordinarily a big fan of magical realism but sometimes it has a touch of magic that is totally endearing. Such is the case with Kelly Barnhill’s collection of stories and one novella, The Unlicensed Magician. Barnhill’s editors loaded the best stories up front with the delightfully whimsical Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch starting things off, switching to the poignant melancholia of grief with the Open the Doors and the Light Pours Through and The Dead Boy’s Last Poem. The other short works are entertaining but didn’t really grab me as much as the first three did. I found the title story a bit disconcerting, not because of the writing (which was excellent) but because I found the main character a bit of a bitch.The collection ends strongly with The Unlicensed Magician a delightful modern fairy tale pitting the residents of a small village and their efforts to protect a baby from a tyrannical government that has outlawed magic. Bottom line: This is a delightful collection that I recommend highly. Narrator John Lee’s reading of these stories is, as always, excellent and adds a sense of gravitas to the stories that just reading the text may lack. *This review was based on an advanced copy of the audio recording obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending. *1 Star – The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.

[muddyboy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An irregular collection of fantastical short stories - some I loved, some not so much. My personal favorites were Elegy for Gabrielle and almost a novella The Unlicensed Magician (the story of a young girl with magical powers in a land highly controlled and this activity was discouraged by the government). There were a couple that I just didn't connect with - maybe you will. All are fantasies of sorts and I will say they are totally different. Since her longest one is the best I would love to see her write novels.

[dcoward_6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately, these read to me more like snippets of stories than fully fleshed out stories.

[phoenixcomet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

 By far the best group of short stories I have ever read. The author's prose evokes emotion as you read her stories, whether it's an overwhelming love for all humanity as in The Unlicensed Magician or dread in Dreadful Young Ladies, Kelly Barnhill is an author I will be seeking out to read again. Excellent all around. Plus she writes with a touch of whimsy and that alone is captivating.