

- English literature, Lesbians, Fiction, Sexual minorities
Gilda, a twenty-something lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death. Desperate for relief from her panicky mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local Catholic church, and finds herself being greeted by Father Jeff, who assumes she’s there for a job interview. Too embarrassed to correct him, Gilda is abruptly hired to replace the recently deceased receptionist Grace. In between trying to memorize the lines to Catholic mass, hiding the fact that she has a new girlfriend, and erecting a dirty dish tower in her crumbling apartment, Gilda strikes up an email correspondence with Grace’s old friend. She can’t bear to ignore the kindly old woman, who has been trying to reach her friend through the church inbox, but she also can’t bring herself to break the bad news. Desperate, she begins impersonating Grace via email. But when the police discover suspicious circumstances surrounding Grace’s death, Gilda may have to finally reveal the truth of her mortifying existence.
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Character
Contemporary, classical in form, intimate and spare.
- contemporarynostalgic
- classical in formformally daring
- intimateepic
- sparerichly built
- rawmeticulous
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About the book
- Author
- Emily Austin
- First published
- 2021
- Pages
- 256
- Publisher
- Atria Books, Simon & Schuster Audio and Blackstone Publishing, Atlantic Books
- Editions
- 13
- Language
- English, Spanish
- ISBN
- 9781982181925
Where to read
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On Open Library, 6 have read it and 91 want to.
“There must have been an explosion.”
Emily Austin was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. She studied English literature, religious studies, and library science at Western University. She received two writing grants from the Canada Council for the Arts. She currently lives in Ottawa, in the territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.
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