“There was a girl who had a kind heart and the desire to touch other souls but whose desire was thwarted.” Thus begins the prize-winning title story in this debut collection. Vile Creatures swings between visceral violence and tender sentiment, evoking a world that feels both strange and achingly familiar—a man struggles with the paradox of his desires and duty to protect, while an infatuated girl tries to understand the death of her neighbor, and a mother wrestles with the guilt of leaving her child under the care of a potentially sinister figure. Their stories linger, capturing the fear, delight, and raw hunger of getting caught in the numbing modernity of a Third World megacity.

2024/198pp
bookpaper/paperback