Books by Joyce Carol Oates

Book SynopsisUnavailable for 40 years, this seminal novel of madness and murder is acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates’ powerful trip into the mind of a maniac. Abandoned as a baby in a bus station locker, shuttled from one abusive foster home and detention center to another, Bobbie Gotteson grew up angry, hurting, damaged. His hunger to succeed as a musician brought him across the country to Hollywood, but along with it came his seething rage, his paranoid delusions, and his capacity for acts of shocking violence. Unavailable for 40 years, The Triumph of the Spider Monkey is an eloquent, terrifying, heartbreaking exploration of madness by one of the most acclaimed authors of the past century. This definitive edition for the first time pairs the original novel with a never-before-collected companion novella by Joyce Carol Oates, unseen since its sole publication in a literary journal nearly half a century ago, which examines the impact of Gotteson’s killing spree on a woman who survived it, as seen through the eyes of the troubled young man hired by a private detective to surveil her…Trade Review“ . . . a full-blown freak show of serial murder, psychological self-torment, and literal disintegration.” —Kirkus Review “Boldly explicit, Oates’ tale of criminal psychosis draws on the druggy decadence, greed, sexism, and violence of Hollywood in the Charles Manson-Roman Polanski era.” —Booklist “Oates digs so deeply into the psyche of the murderous personality that it makes for rough reading in parts, but the subject matter is not and should not be sacrificed on the altar of the reader’s comfort zone.” —BookReporter “If you’re a fan of psychological suspense novels, The Triumph of the Spider Monkey will leave you sleeping with the lights on for a few nights.” —George Kelley “[The Triumph of the Spider Monkey] once again displays [Oates'] enviable skill, creativity, and versatility.” —Mystery Scene Magazine

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Book SynopsisFrom Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, six feverishly unsettling tales of suspense. A woman sits naked except for her high-heeled shoes, in an apartment she cannot afford, as her married lover rushes, amorously, murderously, to her door. An ageing, jealous wife crafts an unusual game of Russian roulette involving a pair of Wedgwood teacups, a strong Bengal brew, and a lethal concoction. A former Sunday School teacher's corpse turns up and the blighted adolescent she had by turns petted and ridiculed confesses to her murder – but is he really responsible? In a fantastic ode to H.P. Lovecraft, a young outsider is haunted by apparitions at the very edge of the spectrum of visibility after the death of his tortured father. Revelling in the uncanny, this taut collection stands at the crossroads of sex, violence, and longing – challenging us to interrogate the intersection of these impulses within ourselves. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths.' Guardian ‘Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' Booklist 'Few writers better illuminate the mind's most disturbing corners.' Seattle TimesTrade ReviewConsummately well-written, stylistically dashing... Forthrightly nightmarish * Kirkus Reviews *Oates' spookiness is visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute * Booklist *Oates perfectly captures the atmosphere of fear and well-meaning misunderstanding * The Times *Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday * Sunday Express *A writer of extraordinary strengths * Guardian *The prolific Oates works her magic on a small canvas in this taut collection of short stories about ageing, jealous wives, lonely mistresses and a game of Russian roulette with poisoned teacups * Daily Telegraph *Both haunting and sublime * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisFrom Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of BLONDE, now a major motion picture, a collection of four dark and compelling novellas about love gone wrong. The young fourth wife of a prominent intellectual thinks herself happy until the first wife comes to stay. A shy teenager meets a dazzling kindred spirit. But the first sparks of young love soon take on a darker shade... A spoiled frat boy decides to murder his parents, only to be floored by the power of his mother's love; and a fragile woman reveals deeply buried secrets to her curious lover with devastating consequences... All of these stories are about love, just not as we like to think of it. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths.' Guardian 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR JOYCE CAROL OATES: 'This collection of stories is Oates at her best – spare, swift, beautifully observed and quietly lethal' The Times. 'Both haunting and sublime' Literary Review. 'An unsettling read worth every resulting jump in the night... [Oates is a] literary goddess' Daily Mail. 'As usual with Oates, it is horribly readable, but driven by something disturbingly like genuine misanthropy' Sunday Times. 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday' Sunday Express. 'A writer of extraordinary strengths' Guardian. 'A sense of helplessness is the essence of horror, and Oates conveys that feeling as well as any writer around' * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisFrom Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, comes a collection of darkly compelling tales. A young professor is convinced she's being followed, but when she confronts her shadow all is not as it seems. A promising student attempts to save her brother from his descent into madness, but finds there may be more to his world than hers. An elderly nun is found dead in her care home, but was it old age or dark secrets that killed her? These biting and beautiful stories force us to confront, one by one, the demons within. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths.' Guardian 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewThese "tales of darkness and dread" won't put you to sleep, but they'll give you more interesting nightmares * New York Review of Books *Oates perfectly captures the atmosphere of fear and well-meaning misunderstanding * The Times *A writer of extraordinary strengths * Guardian *Extremely compelling... We cannot look away, no matter how gruesome the sight * Spectator *Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisFrom the towering imagination of Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of BLONDE, now a major motion picture, seven nightmarish and unbearably taut tales. Marissa is an innocent girl, with hair the colour of corn-silk. She does not hold others in strange thrall, as some young women do, she obeys her parents, she does not stay late after school, lingering on her walk through the swaying heads of maize. She is the perfect sacrifice. Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, Oates presents an unbearably taut and terrifying tale combining the fury of folklore and blood sacrfice with the depths of adolescent insecurity in The Corn Maiden, a novella, followed by six other nightmares. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths.' Guardian 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewHarrowing stuff: slabs of psychological terror that explore various deviant behaviour, unhealthy obsession and downright horror * Independent *A riveting story, affecting as well as suspenseful. Oates doesn't flinch from grisly outcomes * Irish Times *As usual with Oates, it is horribly readable, but driven by something disturbingly like genuine misanthropy * Sunday Times *The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares provides further confirmation of a unique writer's restless, preternatural brilliance * Guardian *A sense of helplessness is the essence of horror, and Oates conveys that feeling as well as any writer around * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisFrom the towering imagination of Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of BLONDE, now a major motion picture, seven feverishly unsettling works of suspense.. A precocious eleven-year-old, in thrall to the mysterious black sheep of the family, climbs into his sky-blue Chevy to be driven to an uncertain, unforgettable, fate. A university student becomes obsessed with the murder of a female classmate as her own sense of self deteriorates. A recent widow grieves inside her lakefront home and fantasizes about transforming into a great flying predator – unerring and pitiless in the hunt. These meticulously crafted, deeply disquieting stories confront the dangers that surround us, and the dangers that lurk within. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths.' Guardian 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR JOYCE CAROL OATES: 'Oates is simply the most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going, as far as I'm concerned' Gillian Flynn. 'A collection that displays Oates's ability to inhabit distinctive voices to chilling effect' Observer. 'An unsettling read worth every resulting jump in the night' Daily Mail. 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday' Sunday Express. 'A writer of extraordinary strengths' * Guardian *Table of ContentsDis mem ber The Crawl Space Heartbreak The Drowned Girl The Situations Great Blue Heron Welcome to Friendly Skies!

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Book SynopsisFrom literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, comes a brand new collection of haunting and, at times, darkly humorous mystery and suspense stories. These are tales of psyches pushed to their limits by the expectations of everyday life – from a woman who gets lost on her drive back to her plush suburban home and ends up breaking into a stranger's house, to a first-person account of a cloned 1940s magazine pinup girl being sold at auction and embodying America's ideals of beauty and womanhood. Taken as a whole, the collection forms a poignant tapestry of regular people searching for their place in a social hierarchy, often with devastating and disastrous results. Rendered with stylish, fresh writing from an author who continues to push the envelope, the stories deftly weave in and out of a stream-of-consciousness to reflect the ways we process traumatic experiences and impart that uncertainty and uneasiness to the reader. The stories comprising Night, Neon showcase Oates' mastery of the suspense story and her relentless use of the form to conduct unapologetically honest explorations of American identity. 'Embracing the twists and turns of everyday American life, the author's latest short story collection is playful, gripping and disturbing.' Guardian Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewEmbracing the twists and turns of everyday American life, the author's latest short story collection is playful, gripping and disturbing * Guardian *[Oates] stylishly conveys the sweep of life; the consequences of experiences, however tiny * Observer *A disturbing collection of stories of psyches pushed to the limit * i Newspaper *PRAISE FOR JOYCE CAROL OATES: 'Both haunting and sublime' Literary Review. 'An unsettling read worth every resulting jump in the night... [Oates is a] literary goddess' Daily Mail. 'As usual with Oates, it is horribly readable, but driven by something disturbingly like genuine misanthropy' Sunday Times. 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday' Sunday Express. 'A writer of extraordinary strengths' Guardian. 'Oates's brand of horror has never required the invocation of other worlds: This world is terrible enough for her. Everything she writes, in whatever genre, has an air of dread, because she deals in vulnerabilities and inevitabilities, in the desperate needs that drive people [...] to their fates. A sense of helplessness is the essence of horror, and Oates conveys that feeling as well as any writer around' * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisA collection of twenty-two disturbing tales of crime and suspense from literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde and 'America's preeminent fiction writer' (New Yorker). Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong. A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life. Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party. Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date. Originally published in long out-of-print volumes, these tales have not appeared in any form this century – until now. They show a writer boldly engaging with disturbing truths and terrifying possibilities, and deconstructing the tropes and expectations of traditional prose writing as she does so. But beyond their stylistic ingenuity, these are creepy, suspenseful stories that cut straight to the bone; their darkness will linger long after the final page is turned. A must-read for long-time fans of Joyce Carol Oates and an excellent introduction for the uninitiated. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewThemed around crime and suspense, it veers towards the gothic * Vogue *PRAISE FOR JOYCE CAROL OATES: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths' Guardian. 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday' Sunday Express. 'A sense of helplessness is the essence of horror, and Oates conveys that feeling as well as any writer around' New York Times. 'Oates is simply the most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going, as far as I'm concerned' -- Gillian Flynn

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Book SynopsisA collection of twenty-two disturbing tales of crime and suspense from literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde and 'America's preeminent fiction writer' (New Yorker). Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong. A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life. Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party. Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date. Originally published in long out-of-print volumes, these tales have not appeared in any form this century – until now. They show a writer boldly engaging with disturbing truths and terrifying possibilities, and deconstructing the tropes and expectations of traditional prose writing as she does so. But beyond their stylistic ingenuity, these are creepy, suspenseful stories that cut straight to the bone; their darkness will linger long after the final page is turned. A must-read for long-time fans of Joyce Carol Oates and an excellent introduction for the uninitiated. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewThemed around crime and suspense, it veers towards the gothic * Vogue *PRAISE FOR JOYCE CAROL OATES: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths' Guardian. 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday' Sunday Express. 'A sense of helplessness is the essence of horror, and Oates conveys that feeling as well as any writer around' New York Times. 'Oates is simply the most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going, as far as I'm concerned' -- Gillian Flynn

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Book SynopsisWhen a beautiful woman mysteriously vanishes from her small town home, her sister must uncover the truth behind the mystery. Sculptor Marguerite has disappeared from her small town in upstate New York. But was foul play involved? Did she merely get away for some fun? Or did she finally decide to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities? Younger sister Gigi wonders if the clues left in Marguerite's wake – the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned, the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots, which end abruptly close to home – are really clues at all. Bit by bit, revelations about both women are uncovered, together with Gigi's true feelings about the much-loved Marguerite. The fate of the missing beauty slowly and subtly comes to light In this suspenseful story about the complex relationship between two sisters. 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister is an exquisitely suspenseful tale from Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of Blonde and We Were the Mulvaneys. 'This elegant, captivating tale is un-put-downable.' Publishers Weekly 'Perfect for all the Daisy Jones & the Six fans out there.' Katie Couric Media 'Another masterpiece of storytelling.' Booklist 'Not just a ripping good mystery, but a meticulous character study.' Los Angeles MagazineTrade Review'[An] exquisite novel of suspense from Oates examines a crime and its consequences. This elegant, captivating tale is un-put-downable.' * Publishers Weekly *'A kaleidoscopic portrait of an unforgettable woman whose memory everyone honors only by distorting it.' * Kirkus *Oates has added another disturbing character to her bountiful cast of strange people and devised another chilling work, one that will slot into the vast canon for which she is justly renowned. * New York Journal of Books *Another masterpiece of storytelling from a writer who jumps between genres and styles with amazing aplomb.… A thematically and stylistically ambitious novel that displays the author’s literary gifts to their maximum effect. * Booklist STARRED REVIEW *The latest by celebrated author Joyce Carol Oates is not just a ripping good mystery, but a meticulous character study executed as only she can. * Los Angeles Magazine *A literary thriller that’s written as a memoir - perfect for all the Daisy Jones & the Six fans out there. * Katie Couric Media *Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday' Sunday Express 'A riveting story, affecting as well as suspenseful' Irish Times 'Both haunting and sublime' Literary Review 'A sense of helplessness is the essence of horror, and Oates conveys that feeling as well as any writer around' New York Times 'Restless, preternatural brilliance' Guardian 'An unsettling read worth every resulting jump in the night... [Oates is a] literary goddess' Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisWhen a woman mysteriously vanishes from her small town home, her sister must tally up the clues to uncover the truth behind the mystery.Beautiful sculptor Marguerite has disappeared from her small town in upstate New York. But was foul play involved? Did she merely get away for some fun? Or did she finally make the decision to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities?Younger sister Gigi wonders if the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned on the floor, is a clue to Marguerite''s vanishing. The police puzzle over the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots, which end abruptly close to her home.Bit by bit, revelations about both women are uncovered, as Gigi, not so pretty as her sister, reveals her true feelings about the perfect, much-loved Marguerite. The fate of the missing beauty slowly and subtly comes to light In this suspenseful story about the complex relationship between two sisters.48 Clues into the Di

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Book SynopsisFrom Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, an eerie, psychologically complex thriller about a woman haunted by her traumatic past. As a child, Abby had the same nightmare night after night, in which she wandered through a field ridden with human bones. Now an adult, Abby thinks she's outgrown her demons, until, the evening before her wedding, the terrible dream returns and forces her to confront the dark secrets she is keeping from her new husband, Willem. The following day, less than 24 hours after exchanging vows, Abby steps out into traffic. As his wife lies in her hospital bed, Willem tries to determine whether this was an absentminded accident or a premeditated plunge. Slowly, Abby begins to open up to her husband, revealing to him what she has never shared with anyone before: the story of a terrified mother; a jealous, drug addled father; and a daughter's terrifying captivity. With a suspenseful, alternating narrative that travels between the present and Abby's tortured childhood, Pursuit is a meticulously crafted, deeply disquieting tale that showcases Oates's masterful storytelling. Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates: 'A writer of extraordinary strengths.' Guardian 'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.' Sunday Express 'Both haunting and sublime.' Literary Review 'Splendidly chilling.' Financial Times 'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.' BooklistTrade ReviewPursuit is on the side of the angels. Well, "angels" might not be the right word for this terrifying short tale of the demons we all carry with us... As the dread swells, Oates deftly unspools the answers' * Metro *This wonderful author is incapable of writing a less than perfect sentence... Oates manages the tension and the profoundly eerie atmosphere with precision and economy. But it is the prose that lifts the spirit with its poetry' * Daily Mail *Toxic masculinity is pitted against a fragile female protagonist in this gruesome novel * Cornish Times *Gripping and gruesome... It's packed with unrelenting, won't-let-go intensity that characterises all Oates' work' * East Anglian Daily Times *

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM, STARRING ANA DE ARMAS, ADRIEN BRODY, BOBBY CANNAVALE AND JULIANNE NICHOLSON, DIRECTED BY ANDREW DOMINIK ‘A torrentially imaginative, compulsively readable tour de force’ Sunday Telegraph ‘A fabulous reinvention of the life of a fabulous reinvention, and a cracking page-turner to boot’ Evening Standard Blonde is a mesmerising novel about the most enduring and evocative cultural icon of the 20th century: the woman who became Marilyn Monroe. A fragile and gifted young woman, Norma Jeane Baker makes and remakes her identity: she is the orphan whose mother is declared mad; the woman who changes her name to be an actress; the fated celebrity, lover and muse. Told in her voice, Blonde shows a culture hypnotised by its own myths, and the devastating effects it had on Hollywood’s greatest star. ‘This masterpiece about Marilyn Monroe’s life is audacious, gripping and clever’ Rose Tremain ‘If you haven’t read Joyce Carol Oates before, start here, and now’ Independent Trade Review’Nobody has ever caught Marilyn more brilliantly in words than Oates’ Sunday Times ‘This masterpiece about Marilyn Monroe’s life is audacious, gripping and clever. A meditation on fame, exile and lovelessness, but most importantly a siren shriek against the commodification of women through the decades’ Rose Tremain ‘A fabulous reinvention of the life of a fabulous reinvention, and a cracking page-turner to boot’ Evening Standard ‘A torrentially imaginative, compulsively readable tour de force’ Sunday Telegraph ‘A mighty – and a mesmerizing – book’ Elaine Showalter, Literary Review ‘If you haven’t read Joyce Carol Oates before, start here, and now’ Julie Myerson, Independent ‘Blonde is an epic achievement, a masterpiece, a piece of art so shatteringly well-conceived and lavishly-wrought that at times it almost does not seem like a mere book’ Independent on Sunday ‘Novelists such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer slug it out for the title of the Great American Novelist. But maybe they’re wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the Great American Novelist is a woman’ Herald

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Book SynopsisA masterful novel about a violent crime and its reverberations throughout a community – as timely and relevant in 2019 as it was when first published in 2001 ‘We were the Mulvaneys, remember us? For a long time you envied us, then you pitied us. For a long time you admired us, then you thought Good! that’s what they deserve.’ The Mulvaneys of High Point Farm are blessed. But then, on Valentine’s Day 1976, something happens to Marianne, the pretty sixteen-year-old daughter, and nothing will ever be the same again … .Trade Review‘This family still haunts me’ Oprah Winfrey ‘We Were the Mulvaneys works not simply because of its meticulous details and gestures…What keeps us coming back to Oates Country is something stronger and spookier: her uncanny gift of making the page a window, with something on the other side that we'd swear was life itself' The New York Times Book Review 'A brilliantly detailed and varied picture of family life and a succession of dramatic set pieces…These are people we recognise, and she makes us care deeply about them' Kirkus ‘Oates’s prose contains a deep-felt rawness which hovers hovers betwee hope, despair and love’ Guardian 'Novelists such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer slug it out for the title of the Great American Novelist. But maybe they're wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the Great American Novelist is a woman' Herald, review of Blonde

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Book SynopsisTeena Maguire should not have tried to shortcut her way home that Fourth of July. Not after midnight, not through Rocky Point Park. Not the way she was dressed in a tank top, denim cutoffs, and high-heeled sandals. Not with her twelve-year-old daughter Bethie. Not with packs of local guys running loose on hormones, rage and alcohol. A victim of gang rape, left for dead in the park boathouse, the once vivacious Teena can now only regret that she has survived. At a relentlessly compelling pace punctuated by lonely cries in the night and the whisper of terror in the afternoon, Joyce Carol Oates unfolds the story of Teena and Bethie, their assailants, and their unexpected, silent champion, a man who knows the meaning of justice. And love.Trade Review"'Remarkable... as powerful as anything Joyce Carol Oates has produced' Kate Kellaway, Observer * 'Troubling and remarkable' Lavinia Greenlaw, Daily Telegraph * 'Demonstrates not only the passion, pathos and psychological intensity of this most explosive of major US writers but also again showcases Oates's full-blooded, soaring prose' Irish Times * 'An important book... all men should read it' Literary Review"

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Book SynopsisA dark collection from one of America's literary giants.A young wife is home alone when the phone rings in 'So Help Me God.' Is the strange voice flirting with her from the other end of the line her jealous husband laying a trap, or a stranger who knows entirely too much about her? In 'Madison at Guignol' an unhappy fashionista discovers a secret door inside her favourite clothing store and insists the staff let her enter. But even her fevered imagination cannot anticipate the horror they have been hiding from her. In these and other gripping and disturbing tales, women are confronted by the evil around them and surprised by the evil they find within themselves. With wicked insight, Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates why the females of the species - be they six-year-old girls, seemingly devoted wives, or aging mothers - are by nature more deadly than the males.Trade Review“Chilling, but irresistible.” Dublin Evening Herald * Dublin Evening Herald *Oates excels at detailing the complexities of the female psyche, especially at times of crisis … there is nothing ordinary about the way she writes.” Glasgow Sunday Herald * Glasgow Sunday Herald *“This fine collection proves as incisive and moving as her longer fiction”. Scotland on Sunday * Scotland on Sunday *Table of ContentsSo Help Me God The Banshee Doll: A Romance of the Mississippi Madison at Guignol The Haunting Hunger Tell Me You Forgive Me? Angel of Wrath Angel of Mercy

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Book SynopsisFifteen-year-old Katya Spivak is out for a walk on the streets of Bayhead Harbor, New Jersey, when she is approached by silver-haired, elegant Marcus Kidder. At first his interest in her seems harmless. The world he inhabits acts as a tonic to her drab existence. And as a children's book writer, he seems to be a man she can trust. His home is beautiful and he lavishes gifts on her. Everything about him is enticing - perhaps too enticing? Like a moth to the light Katya agrees to pose for a painting. But by degrees something changes. Being Mr Kidder's muse is not the easy endeavour it once was. What does he really want from her? And how far will he go to get it? This spare, chilling novel shows Joyce Carol Oates at the height of her powers as a literary storyteller.Trade Review'A delightfully chilling and playful novella from a literary genius' Daily Mail. * Daily Mail *'The prose is taut, the insight shrewd and the violence vivid, but what lingers in the mind is the painful ambiguity of contemporary human interaction' New Statesman. * New Statesman *'Pure fairytale, a modern day Little Red Riding Hood in which Katya exacts her own revenge against the wolf... Oates has an indisputable ability to sustain ambient darkness and ominous unease' Guardian. * Guardian *'Exceptional talent for the Gothic/thriller genre... the narrative tension becomes almost unbearable' TLS. * TLS *

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Book SynopsisLa obra maestra de la autora de La hija del sepulturero, firme candidata al Premio Nobel.Cuando Zoe Kruller, una joven esposa y madre, aparece brutalmente asesinada, la policía se centra en dos principales sospechosos: su marido, Delray, y su amante, Eddy Diehl. Mientras tanto, el hijo de los Kruller, Aaron, y la hija de Eddy, Krista, adquieren una mutua obsesión, y cada uno cree que el padre del otro es culpable.Situada en la mítica y pequeña ciudad de Sparta, Ave del paraíso es una vívida combinación de romance erótico y violencia trágica en la Norteamérica de finales del siglo XX. Joyce Carol Oates regresa al terreno emocional y geográfico de su gran éxito La hija del sepulturero, con esta novela deslumbrante en la que el intenso amor sexual está entrelazado con la angustia de la pérdida y es difícil diferenciar la ternura de la crueldad.La crítica ha dicho...La imaginación de Oates resulta incontenible. Las páginas rebosan de pensamientos y descripciones, tanto que te deja los dedos impregnados cuando sueltas Ave del paraíso... Krista y Aaron no son voces que se olviden fácilmente.California Literary ReviewAve del paraíso se inicia con el apremio de un thriller y luego deviene, conforme pasan los años y las páginas, en algo más existencial... Una tragedia de dimensiones clásicas.New York Times Book ReviewLos fans de Oates se deleitarán con esta propuesta, y los recién llegados a su obra tendrán a su alcance una introducción de primera categoría.BookPageLa Oates de antaño: violencia trágica, ambiciones desmesuradas, esperanzas hechas añicos, tensos lazos familiares, hombres muy masculinos que enervan a mujeres atrevidas aunque sumisas, y, por supuesto, adolescentes con las hormonas por las nubes.ElleOates despliega la intuición gótica fundamental -que bella y bestia son complementarias- de un modo que Charlotte Brontë habría aprobado encantada.Publishers WeeklyUn narcótico, inquietante y magistral relato acerca de la lucha por el control de las urgencias más primitivas del cuerpo y la búsqueda de la moralidad en un mundo catastróficamente corrupto. Oates mantiene su puesto como nuestro más grande e incansable bardo del caos erótico, la negligencia malévola, la ira delirante, la violencia apasionada y las feroces estrategias de supervivencia.Booklist

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