T.L. Cowan

Don’t expect a collection of neutral-toned, het- norm Prairie coming-of-age stories here. Chandra Mayor’s All the Pretty Girls is decorated with dirty carpets, dusty stairwells, empty whiskey bottles and shitty diapers. And don’t be fooled by the cover. These stories will not fulfill any retro fantasies for full-figured young women frolicking unaccountably in the waves wearing sturdy-yet-sexy undergarments.

What does it take to be a good person in a corrupt world? Is there hope for redemption after you have disappointed everyone who loves you? Can you go home again? Do you want to? Miranda Ching, the heroine of Larissa Lai's second novel, Salt Fish Girl, grapples with these questions throughout the centuries of her ever-changing, ageless life. I say heroine here, but wonder if anti-heroine might not be a better way to describe this prodigal daughter. She makes mistakes -big ones, and lots of them.