Her Body Among Animals

Shortlisted for the 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award Nominated for the 2023 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards In this genre-bending debut collection merging horror, fairy tales, pop culture, and sci-fi, women challenge the boundaries placed on their bodies while living in a world "among animals," where violence is intertwined with bizarre ecological disruptions. A sentient sex robot goes against her programming; a grad student living with depression is weighed down by an ever-present albatross; an unhappy wife turns into a spider; a boy with a dark secret is haunted by dolls; a couple bound for a colony on Mars take a road trip through Texas; a girl fights to save her sister from growing a mermaid tail like their absent mother. Magical yet human, haunted and haunting, these stories act as a surreal documentation of the mistakes in systems of the past that remain very much in the present. Ferrante investigates toxic masculinity and the devastation it enacts upon women and our planet, delving into the universal undercurrent of ecological anxiety in the face of such toxicity, and the personal experience of being a new mother concerned about the future her child will face. Through these confrontations of the complexity of living in a woman's body, Her Body Among Animals moves us from hopelessness to a future of resilience and possibility.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents 1. When Foxes Die Electric 2. The Underside of a Wing 3. Mermaid Girls 4. Finding Houdini 5. A Trick of the Dark 6. Everyday Horror Show 7. Pandora 8. Cobwebs 9. The Silent Grave of Birds 10. So What If It’ s Supposed to Rain 11. Among Chameleons and Other Shades

About the Author :
PAOLA FERRANTE is a writer living with depression. Her debut poetry collection, What to Wear When Surviving a Lion Attack, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. She has won Grain Magazine's Short Grain Contest for Poetry, The New Quarterly's Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award, Room Magazine's Fiction Contest, and was longlisted for the 2020 Journey Prize. Her work appears in After Realism: 24 Stories for the 21st Century, Best Canadian Poetry 2021, North American Review, PRISM International, and elsewhere. She was born, and still resides in, Toronto.

Review :
Her Body Among Animals is a finalist for the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction Her Body Among Animals is the Silver Winner for Short Stories from the 2023 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Her Body Among Animals is a nominee for the 2023 Shirley Jackson Awards in the Single-Author Collection category Her Body Among Animals is the runner-up winner of the 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award Her Body Among Animals is a finalist for the 2023 Big Other Book Award for Fiction "Precise yet poetic, sharply observed yet compassionate and tender, these cautionary tales for future generations burst the bounds of genre and take us into new and exciting literary realms." —David Demchuck, a Scotiabank Giller Prize–nominated author of The Bone Mother and RED X.  “Paola Ferrante’s monster-haunted stories are as dark as a moonless lake—and as beautiful." —André Forget, Amazon Canada First Novel Award–nominated author of In the City of Pigs. “The vibrant stories in Paola Ferrante’s collection Her Body Among Animals transport the reader to strange, yet achingly familiar territory. Ferrante holds up a funhouse mirror to our contemporary moment with her sharp and dazzling prose . . . These wondrous narratives showcase the infinite scope of the universe and the ways in which we struggle to survive." —Doretta Lau, author of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?. “Paola Ferrante’s writing is so daring, so sharp and visceral, and yet so effortless. Gorgeous, wry, and unsettling, Her Body Among Animals pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the final page." —Amy Jones, author of Every Little Piece of Me. “There is no filler here; each story is devastating, brilliantly imaginative, and almost impossible to summarize neatly. Ferrante is a vital new voice in short fiction.” —Publishers Weekly Her Body Among Animals is a finalist for the 2023 Foreword INDIES Books of the Year Awards in the Adult Fiction: Short Stories category. Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante is shortlisted for the 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award. "With a firm grasp of our grim reality, Ferrante daringly explores what it means to be a woman and what it means to live in exposed ecosystems. Readers will take flight with the characters through infinite worlds where realities and unrealities intersect to allow for human metamorphoses, both in body and mind. Her Body Among Animals is a collection of stories that will haunt you even after you put the book down." —Room Magazine "With a firm grasp of our grim reality, Ferrante daringly explores what it means to be a woman and what it means to live in exposed ecosystems. Readers will take flight with the characters through infinite worlds where realities and unrealities intersect to allow for human metamorphoses, both in body and mind. Her Body Among Animals is a collection of stories that will haunt you even after you put the book down." —Room Magazine "With a firm grasp of our grim reality, Ferrante daringly explores what it means to be a woman and what it means to live in exposed ecosystems. Readers will take flight with the characters through infinite worlds where realities and unrealities intersect to allow for human metamorphoses, both in body and mind. Her Body Among Animals is a collection of stories that will haunt you even after you put the book down." —Room Magazine “There is no filler here; each story is devastating, brilliantly imaginative, and almost impossible to summarize neatly. Ferrante is a vital new voice in short fiction.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “There is no filler here; each story is devastating, brilliantly imaginative, and almost impossible to summarize neatly. Ferrante is a vital new voice in short fiction.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “There is no filler here; each story is devastating, brilliantly imaginative, and almost impossible to summarize neatly. Ferrante is a vital new voice in short fiction.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “There is no filler here; each story is devastating, brilliantly imaginative, and almost impossible to summarize neatly. Ferrante is a vital new voice in short fiction.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A tour de force of storytelling, a powerful, challenging, rewarding experience.” —Toronto Star “Elegant and arresting, the eleven modern fables in Paola Ferrante’s Her Body Among Animals thrum with a desperate, racing pulse as they capture the everyday horrors women live with and the sacrifices—of personhood, opportunity, and safety—their ordinary lives require.” —Foreword Reviews “A tour de force of storytelling, a powerful, challenging, rewarding experience.” —Toronto Star “A tour de force of storytelling, a powerful, challenging, rewarding experience.” —Toronto Star “A tour de force of storytelling, a powerful, challenging, rewarding experience.” —Toronto Star “Elegant and arresting, the eleven modern fables in Paola Ferrante’s Her Body Among Animals thrum with a desperate, racing pulse as they capture the everyday horrors women live with and the sacrifices—of personhood, opportunity, and safety—their ordinary lives require.” —Foreword Reviews “Elegant and arresting, the eleven modern fables in Paola Ferrante’s Her Body Among Animals thrum with a desperate, racing pulse as they capture the everyday horrors women live with and the sacrifices—of personhood, opportunity, and safety—their ordinary lives require.” —Foreword Reviews “Elegant and arresting, the eleven modern fables in Paola Ferrante’s Her Body Among Animals thrum with a desperate, racing pulse as they capture the everyday horrors women live with and the sacrifices—of personhood, opportunity, and safety—their ordinary lives require.” —Foreword Reviews "Ferrante's writing is smart, fast-paced and full of looping sensory images and details that guide her reader into the skin of each deeply fleshed-out and sympathetic character, and zips us into their minds."—Susan Sanford Blades "Precise yet poetic, sharply observed yet compassionate and tender, these cautionary tales for future generations burst the bounds of genre and take us into new and exciting literary realms." —David Demchuk, Scotiabank Giller Prize–nominated author of The Bone Mother and RED X "Ferrante's writing is smart, fast-paced and full of looping sensory images and details that guide her reader into the skin of each deeply fleshed-out and sympathetic character, and zips us into their minds."—Susan Sanford Blades "Ferrante's writing is smart, fast-paced and full of looping sensory images and details that guide her reader into the skin of each deeply fleshed-out and sympathetic character, and zips us into their minds."—Susan Sanford Blades "Ferrante's writing is smart, fast-paced and full of looping sensory images and details that guide her reader into the skin of each deeply fleshed-out and sympathetic character, and zips us into their minds."—Susan Sanford Blades "Precise yet poetic, sharply observed yet compassionate and tender, these cautionary tales for future generations burst the bounds of genre and take us into new and exciting literary realms." —David Demchuk, Scotiabank Giller Prize–nominated author of The Bone Mother and RED X "Precise yet poetic, sharply observed yet compassionate and tender, these cautionary tales for future generations burst the bounds of genre and take us into new and exciting literary realms." —David Demchuk, Scotiabank Giller Prize–nominated author of The Bone Mother and RED X “Gorgeous, wry, and unsettling, Her Body Among Animals pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the final page... These stories are unlike anything I have ever read, and Ferrante is one of the most exciting and original new voices in Canadian literature.” —Amy Jones, author of Pebble & Dove "Precise yet poetic, sharply observed yet compassionate and tender, these cautionary tales for future generations burst the bounds of genre and take us into new and exciting literary realms." —David Demchuk, Scotiabank Giller Prize–nominated author of The Bone Mother and RED X “Paola Ferrante's monster-haunted stories are as dark as a moonless lake—and as beautiful.” —André Forget, Amazon Canada First Novel Award–author of In the City of Pigs “Gorgeous, wry, and unsettling, Her Body Among Animals pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the final page... These stories are unlike anything I have ever read, and Ferrante is one of the most exciting and original new voices in Canadian literature.” —Amy Jones, author of Pebble & Dove “Gorgeous, wry, and unsettling, Her Body Among Animals pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the final page... These stories are unlike anything I have ever read, and Ferrante is one of the most exciting and original new voices in Canadian literature.” —Amy Jones, author of Pebble & Dove “Gorgeous, wry, and unsettling, Her Body Among Animals pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the final page... These stories are unlike anything I have ever read, and Ferrante is one of the most exciting and original new voices in Canadian literature.” —Amy Jones, author of Pebble & Dove “Paola Ferrante's monster-haunted stories are as dark as a moonless lake—and as beautiful.” —André Forget, Amazon Canada First Novel Award–author of In the City of Pigs “Paola Ferrante's monster-haunted stories are as dark as a moonless lake—and as beautiful.” —André Forget, Amazon Canada First Novel Award–author of In the City of Pigs “Paola Ferrante's monster-haunted stories are as dark as a moonless lake—and as beautiful.” —André Forget, Amazon Canada First Novel Award–author of In the City of Pigs “These stories are a testament to a mind that travels far and a voice that speaks an urgent language.” —Angélique Lalonde, Scotiabank Giller prize–shortlisted author of Glorious Frazzled Beings “The vibrant stories in Paola Ferrante’s collection Her Body Among Animals transport the reader to strange, yet achingly familiar territory. Ferrante holds up a funhouse mirror to our contemporary moment with her sharp and dazzling prose.” —Doretta Lau, author of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? “These stories are a testament to a mind that travels far and a voice that speaks an urgent language.” —Angélique Lalonde, Scotiabank Giller prize–shortlisted author of Glorious Frazzled Beings “These stories are a testament to a mind that travels far and a voice that speaks an urgent language.” —Angélique Lalonde, Scotiabank Giller prize–shortlisted author of Glorious Frazzled Beings “These stories are a testament to a mind that travels far and a voice that speaks an urgent language.” —Angélique Lalonde, Scotiabank Giller prize–shortlisted author of Glorious Frazzled Beings “The vibrant stories in Paola Ferrante’s collection Her Body Among Animals transport the reader to strange, yet achingly familiar territory. Ferrante holds up a funhouse mirror to our contemporary moment with her sharp and dazzling prose.” —Doretta Lau, author of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? “The vibrant stories in Paola Ferrante’s collection Her Body Among Animals transport the reader to strange, yet achingly familiar territory. Ferrante holds up a funhouse mirror to our contemporary moment with her sharp and dazzling prose.” —Doretta Lau, author of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? “The vibrant stories in Paola Ferrante’s collection Her Body Among Animals transport the reader to strange, yet achingly familiar territory. Ferrante holds up a funhouse mirror to our contemporary moment with her sharp and dazzling prose.” —Doretta Lau, author of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? "These stories are electric. Ferrante approaches the short story as a full and beautiful form in itself; while her subject matter is quite dissimilar to the great Alice Munro, her stories are similar in that they contain whole worlds." —The Miramichi Reader "These stories are electric. Ferrante approaches the short story as a full and beautiful form in itself; while her subject matter is quite dissimilar to the great Alice Munro, her stories are similar in that they contain whole worlds." —The Miramichi Reader "These stories are electric. Ferrante approaches the short story as a full and beautiful form in itself; while her subject matter is quite dissimilar to the great Alice Munro, her stories are similar in that they contain whole worlds." —The Miramichi Reader "These stories are electric. Ferrante approaches the short story as a full and beautiful form in itself; while her subject matter is quite dissimilar to the great Alice Munro, her stories are similar in that they contain whole worlds." —The Miramichi Reader