With the publication of her first novel Nobody Is Ever Missing in 2014, Catherine Lacey’s evocative depictions of modern life established her as a powerful voice in fiction. A native of Mississippi, Lacey has since been recognized with a Whiting Award and was named one of Granta Magazine’s Best Young American Novelists in 2017. Her characters often find themselves in the aftermath of a decision to detach from something⎯finally free, but also untethered, unsure, and not always comfortable with who they find themselves to be. Certain American States, Lacey’s most recent work, blends the author’s skill for deft cultural critique with her uncanny ability to render the brutal freedom found when people choose to go it alone.

The stories in the collection range from tales of neurotic city-dwellers literally unable to communicate with one another (“ur heck box”) to stories that center on unapologetically ambivalent women trying their best to make space for themselves in the world (“Because Your Have To,” “Please Take,” “Small Differences,” “Family Physics”) and strange, surreal depictions of what it feels like to become trapped in blissful solitude (“The Grand Claremont Hotel”). (more…)

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