Posts Tagged ‘Orange World’

‘Orange World and Other Stories’ by Karen Russell

May 2nd, 2019

WHO: Karen Russell

WHAT: ORANGE WORLD and Other Stories

WHEN: Published by Knopf May 15, 2019

WHERE: The author lives in Portland OR.

WHY: “Virtuoso Karen Russell, gifted with acute insights, compassion, and a daring, free-diving imagination, explores the bewitching and bewildering dynamic between ‘the voracious appetite of nature and its yawning indifference’ and humankind’s relentless profligacy and obliviousness.
“After Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove, one might think that ORANGE WORLD would have a citrusy element, but instead it’s code for all the domestic hazards threatening newborns. Yet household dangers are the least of the fears plaguing Rae during a precarious pregnancy, and late one night her cries for help summon the Devil. He — or, more accurately, it — doesn’t want her soul in exchange for saving her baby; instead, it wants to be breastfed. Their grotesque pact is one of an array of shocking pairings in this ingenious, reality-warping, darkly funny, and exquisitely composed story collection rooted in myth and horror.
“MacArthur Fellow Russell writes with mischievous clarity, wit, and conviction, grounding the most bizarre situations in the ordinary. A young desert traveler is possessed by the furious spirit of a Joshua tree; a teen loves a mummified girl he pulls from a bog. Historical moments seed some tales, including ‘The Prospectors,’ a sublime Depression-era ghost story about two young women grifters; while others leap ahead, such as ‘The Gondoliers,’ in which sisters use echolocation to navigate a submerged Miami.” —Donna Seaman, in a starred review for BOOKLIST

“A momentous feat of storytelling in an already illustrious career.
Karen Russell’s third collection beckons like a will-o’-the-wisp across the bog, with eight crisp stories that will leave longtime fans hungry for more.”
—KIRKUS, a starred review

“A wonderfully off-kilter collection.
The inimitable Karen Russell returns with stories that delight in the uncanny, parlaying the deeply fantastical to reflect the basest and most human of our desires.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Jacket photo

Media Resources:
About the book and author | Read an excerpt | Author tour | Download the jacket | Download the author photo

Knopf. 271 pages. $25.95
ISBN 978-0-525-65613-5


To interview the author, contact:
Emily Reardon | 212-572-2018 | ereardon@penguinrandomhouse.com