Aimee Bender Book order

'The Butterfly Lampshade is an unflinching, empathetic portrayal of a childhood touched by mental illness. As always, Aimee Bender's respect for the child and the child within translates into wisdom and magic on the page.' Jing-Jing Lee, author of How We Disappeared On the night her mother is taken to a mental hospital after a psychotic episode, eight year-old Francie is mesmerised by a lamp adorned with butterflies as she falls asleep. When she wakes, Francie sees a dead butterfly matching the ones on the lamp floating in a glass of water. She drinks it before anyone sees. Twenty-years later, Francie is compelled to make sense of that moment and two other incidents that have haunted her life. But how close are her memories to reality and will she ever be free of them?

In Willful Creatures Aimee Bender takes us on a journey to a fantastical world in which authentic love blossoms. With the mix of charm and keenly felt emotion that characterised her New York Times bestseller The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Bender once again proves herself to be a masterful chronicler of the human condition.

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern.

L'idea di questa antologia, pubblicata come numero unico della rivista di Dave Eggers "McSweeney's", nasce dalla volontà del curatore, Michael Chabon, di ridare dignità e visibilità alle short stories di avventure in cui un tempo si cimentavano autori quali Balzac, Conrad, Henry James ed Edith Wharton. Una raccolta in cui il racconto breve riacquista la sua dimensione più classica, tradizionale e avvincente: quella di narrarre storie avventurose e piene di thrilling. Gli autori chiamati a misurarsi con questa sfida sono tra i più rappresentativi della letteratura angloamericana da Stephen King a Rick Moody, da Michael Crichton a Neil Gaiman, da Elmore Leonard a Nick Hornby per finire con Dave Heggers e Harlan Ellison.

Aimee Bender's first novel expands on her reputation as a unique voice in American fiction, following her acclaimed debut collection. This narrative showcases her distinctive style and imaginative storytelling, further establishing her talent and creativity in the literary world.