The Girl in the Flammable Skirt

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake'Each short story packs a heavy punch, and each should be savoured. From cleverly comic to starkly surreal, Bender's audacious characters surprise and delight. Sometimes, they even make you weep.'Boston GlobeIn The Girl in the Flammable Skirt Aimee Bender has created a world where nothing is quite as it seems. From a man suffering from reverse evolution to a lonely wife who waits for her husband to return from war; to a small town where one girl has a hand made of fire and the other has a hand made of ice. These stories of men and women whose lives are shaped and sometimes twisted by the power of extraordinary desires take us to a place far beyond the imagination.'Many of the stories in Aimee Bender's insouciant first collection,The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, begin with a premise just on the fringe of the familiar, then give it a tantalizing twist ? Bender's stories are powered by voice - by the pleasure of an electric smile and a restrained sauciness ? as catchy as that title, with a winning cheekiness.'New York Times Book Review'Fierce and true ? Fantastic!'Los Angeles Times Book Review'Hilarious, deep and a little bit dirty.'Harper's Bazaar