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salt slow
salt slow
salt slow
Ebook188 pages3 hours

salt slow

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award

From White Review Short Story Prize winner Julia Armfield, a brilliant, provocative debut story collection for fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link.


In her electrifying debut, Julia Armfield explores women’s experiences in contemporary society, mapped through their bodies. As urban dwellers’ sleeps become disassociated from them, like Peter Pan’s shadow, a city turns insomniac. A teenager entering puberty finds her body transforming in ways very different than her classmates’. As a popular band gathers momentum, the fangirls following their tour turn into something monstrous. After their parents remarry, two step-sisters, one a girl and one a wolf, develop a dangerously close bond. And in an apocalyptic landscape, a pregnant woman begins to realize that the creature in her belly is not what she expected.

Blending elements of horror, science fiction, mythology, and feminism, salt slow is an utterly original collection of short stories that are sure to dazzle and shock, heralding the arrival of a daring new voice.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 8, 2019
ISBN9781250224767
Author

Julia Armfield

Julia Armfield lives and works in London. She is a fiction writer and occasional playwright with a Masters in Victorian Art and Literature from Royal Holloway University. Her work has been published in Lighthouse, Analog Magazine, The white Review and Salt's Best British Short Stories 2019. She was commended in the Moth Short Story Prize 2017, longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Prize 2018 and is the winner of The White Review Short Story Prize 2018.

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Reviews for salt slow

Rating: 4.078947478947368 out of 5 stars
4/5

38 ratings6 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    These stories were creepy, mind-bending, chilling, and each story left me haunted and feeling vaguely unsatisfied with the endings.
    I adored this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Decent writing but I didn't realize they were short stories. Stories were just okay and didn't seem to really "end" so I kept expecting them to connect (because I didn't realize they were separate). dnf
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Absolutely radiant writing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I hope this author and book gets the recognition it deserves! Loved it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a difficult book for me to review because of the disparity, for my own personal taste, between the quality of writing and the stories themselves. So I'm going to address each separately.The writing has a beautiful literary quality. The sentences feel almost lyrical. We have intense imagery and a perfect rhythm that makes me want to linger over words and reread sentences. I loved everything about this fully immersive writing style.Then we have the stories, which are like abstract art. The problem here is that I don't like abstract art. These stories are loaded with symbolism. The wolf might be a wolf, or might be a child, or might be a stand-in for something else entirely, an intangible emotion with wolf-like qualities. Each story is open to interpretation. You could read each one six times and come away with something different, or nothing more than confusion.Regardless of interpretation, the content is dark and the mood is somber at best. These aren't stories that will make you feel good, though they might connect you to a difficult emotional time in your life.Whether or not you want to read this collection of stories largely depends on what you're looking to get out of the experience.*I received a review copy from the publisher.*
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Luminous, engaging and constantly surprising short stories for fans of China Mieville, Jeff Vandermeer & Kelly Link. The stories marry womens' lives to the supernatural, something that will feel very normal and expected in Armfield's skilled hands. The strangest, about when peoples' "sleeps" leave their bodies and leave them amnesiac, is so weird and memorable. Please read this book if you like SFF and/or books about women.

Book preview

salt slow - Julia Armfield

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