Overview

Stephanie Dupal's debut collection of fifteen stories evokes in startling, lyrical prose the cruelties, misguided kindnesses, and surprises that accompany ageing and mortality in the lives of girls and women. Demonstrating a remarkable range of intimate dilemmas set in varied landscapes, these stories affirm the validity of characters' choices and the courage--and rage--of their convictions. In ""To Lie Engulfed in the Waves of the Sea,"" a renowned cellist lies to be hired at a performing arts school; in ""The Ethics of Keeping Company with Strangers,"" a strong-willed teenager and her father are stranded in a Utah desert; in ""A Baby of the Ganges,"" a grieving couple attempts to reconcile on a trip to Kolkata; in ""Godfrey Green,"" an art restorer, painting in the shadow of her elusive mentor, abandons her ambitions; and, in the emblematic final story ""Boys and Girls Swimming Like Dolphins,"" a Marine veteran and her husband fixate on the gender of their future child as they consider fertility treatments. Among other characters inhabiting these pages are an inebriated mother who fears detachment from her son; a retired professor who lures her niece's boyfriend into devastating, flirtatious conversation in the title story; a lonely widow who hunts an imposing raccoon; and a girl with a rare condition who becomes an unlikely heroine in Napoleonic France. Richly imagined, The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories heralds a bold new voice in North American letters.

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9780996510318

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Reviews

""Let us not waste words: in The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories, debut author Stephanie Dupal gives us a masterful collection packing emotional and moral weight. Her prose is rich and precise; her characters are urgent and conflicted; and her intelligence, erudition, and ambition are always evident. In short, her book is a singular achievement."" -Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank and Fat Time and Other Stories

""Let us not waste words: in The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories, debut author Stephanie Dupal gives us a masterful collection packing emotional and moral weight. Her prose is rich and precise; her characters are urgent and conflicted; and her intelligence, erudition, and ambition are always evident. In short, her book is a singular achievement."" -Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank and Fat Time and Other Stories ""Over the course of 15 short stories, Dupal showcases dynamic, daring characters unafraid to explore the darkest parts of themselves. These tales take place in a wide range of settings, from Hollywood's Golden Age to the earliest days of the Covid-19 pandemic to 18th-century France and beyond. A woman embarks on a dangerous hike despite warnings of a storm in ""Over the Mountain Steep."" In ""A Baby of the Ganges,"" a grieving mother, abroad and struggling to reconnect with her partner, regrets and reneges on a choice which might have helped her. In the collection's title story, a retired university professor imagines seducing the man whom her niece has recently started dating while unveiling his own seedy history, while the opening tale, ""To Lie Engulfed in the Waves of the Sea,"" introduces a woman who, after a debilitating accident, is forced to lie in order to get a job, where she continues to lie in order to help someone with a secret wish. In another story, ""Olympic Hopeful, 19, Dies After Winning U.S. Figure Skating Championships,"" two adopted sisters must rely on each other, due to their mother's neglect. Throughout, Dupal convincingly paints distinct character portraits and evokes vastly different time periods and locales. Still, her lyrical prose provides an identifiable signature across the entire work...Dupal's acute attention to detail often gives way to glimmering insights. A well-polished and enjoyable first set, demonstrating impressive range and focus."" -Kirkus Reviews ""Stephanie Dupal's The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories is a stirring debut that deftly explores the power of relationships, and the fate and choices that achingly shape our lives. Across fifteen vividly rendered stories, Dupal writes with exacting grace and insight, crafting prose that hums with intelligence and feeling. A collection of remarkable depth and beauty."" -Karen Winn, author of The Society and Our Little World

Author Information

Stephanie Dupal is a Franco-Canadian and American professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College. She and her husband live in the D.C. metro area. Her stories appear in various magazines here and abroad. The Kindness of Terrible People is her first collection.

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