Elegies for Uncanny Girls

Jennifer Colville is the founding editor of PromptPress, a journal for visual art. She holds an MFA from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. She lives in Iowa City with her husband and two children.

• AcknowledgementsOther Mothers*Susan:CostumeCenter*CarolineAudraMelissaWhen Maggie Thinks of MattJill, or The Big Little LadyDoraWinonaCredits Book Club Guide

"Colville's prose shines when it is at its most lyrical and most psychologically probing. . . . when Colville is at her best, we'll believe whatever she tells us."—Kirkus Reviews"Brisk, satisfying, and fiercely observant."—Publishers Weekly"Colville's elegies are equal parts human and hopeful, fragile and feminine. They are, in the end, stories that give back agency to women and young girls in the specific areas they need it most."—The Rumpus"An electrifying debut: wild, wry, wise, and a little terrifying in the bold truths it tells. Colville is a bountiful and precise stylist, honing in on the vital questions with freshness and verve."—George Saunders, author of Tenth of December: Stories"Gorgeously terrifying and magically perceptive, Jennifer Colville's brilliant elegies spark the mind and ignite the senses, exposing the secret, hyperreal experiences of girls and young women negotiating the treacherous terrain of a world where others see them as victims or monsters, virgins, nymphets, or soon-to-be spinsters—where they know themselves as miraculous, beautiful and vast, dangerously potent. For uncanny girls the body is not a limit, but a multiverse of thrilling possibilities!"—Melanie Rae Thon, author of Voice of the River"In lyrical, playful prose Colville explores our innermost irrational urges and jealousies: family life in all its complexities. The characters in these stories are heartbroken and twitching but ready for more, and it is a delight to watch them tremble, puzzle, hope, forgive."—Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the Sandinistas"Elegies for Uncanny Girls is a smart exploration of boundaries between place and body, with a particular emphasis on gender identity and female sexuality. Colville's beautiful work with imagery serves to advance the stories and the characters are engaging and compassionately written. Her subtlety of approach brings a welcome and exciting variation to the genre."—Bethany Schultz Hurst, author of Miss Lost Nation"The only thing more uncanny than these girls is Colville's ability to arrest the heart, turn a phrase, turn an idea."—Zachary Tyler Vickers, author of Congratulations on Your Martyrdom!"Jennifer Colville's stories hover somewhere between miracle and metaphor, inhabiting a landscape both foreign and familiar. They are stories of motherhood, daughterhood, sisterhood, and the complexity of occasionally taking on all of these roles at once. Don't let the title fool you—while Colville's stories may be elegies, her characters remain wondrously alive."—B.J. Hollars, author of This Is Only a Test"An extraordinary book whose time has come—no other book takes on the challenges of womanhood as bravely and passionately as Elegies for Uncanny Girls does. In short, I don't know of another book in our post-millennial era that captures with such intelligence the "uncanny" sensibilities of "girls," of all ages."—Karen Brennan, author of Monsters