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Red Girl Rat Boy
A Quill & Quire Best Book of the Year
A Globe & Mail Best Short Fiction Title
A National Post Best Short Fiction Title
A January Magazine Best Book of the Year
"Complicated, passionate, genuine."—Chatelaine
Women. Young women, old women. The hair-obsessed, the politically driven, the sure-footed, the bony-butted, the awkward and compulsive and alone. Sleep-deprived and testy. Exhausted and accepting. Among the innumerable wives, husbands, sisters, and in-laws vexed by short temper and insecurity throughout this short story collection, Cynthia Flood’s protagonists stand out as citizens of a reality that the rest of the world will only partially understand. New from the Journey Prize-winning author, Red Girl Rat Boy is a collection of astonishing range and assured technique, whose voices—gothic, peculiar, domestic, and strange—remain as passionate and complex as ever.
Praise for Red Girl Rat Boy
“Revenge and politics season this potent and passionate collection of stories. Flood excavates indelible histories that haunt even those who’ve shaken the dust of the past.” —Aritha van Herk, author of Judith
“Flood’s eye is unflinching, her language energetic and precise, her vision bracing, passionate and entirely lacking in sentimentality.”—Nancy Richler, author of The Imposter Bride
“The notary in ‘Dirty Work’ has ‘retired from witnessing how rough human existence is.’ Fortunately for us, Cynthia Flood has not … these stories prove her to be among our great North American fiction writers.”—Betsy Warland, author of Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing
“Raw energy is Cynthia Flood’s territory. This is a superb collection.”—Laurie Lewis, author of Little Comrades
“Cynthia Flood is full of surprises. If there’s one thing that characterizes her elegant, crystal-sharp short stories, it’s that element of surprise … they reward the attentive reader with surprise and delight”—Dave Margoshes, author of A Book of Great Worth
A Globe & Mail Best Short Fiction Title
A National Post Best Short Fiction Title
A January Magazine Best Book of the Year
"Complicated, passionate, genuine."—Chatelaine
Women. Young women, old women. The hair-obsessed, the politically driven, the sure-footed, the bony-butted, the awkward and compulsive and alone. Sleep-deprived and testy. Exhausted and accepting. Among the innumerable wives, husbands, sisters, and in-laws vexed by short temper and insecurity throughout this short story collection, Cynthia Flood’s protagonists stand out as citizens of a reality that the rest of the world will only partially understand. New from the Journey Prize-winning author, Red Girl Rat Boy is a collection of astonishing range and assured technique, whose voices—gothic, peculiar, domestic, and strange—remain as passionate and complex as ever.
Praise for Red Girl Rat Boy
“Revenge and politics season this potent and passionate collection of stories. Flood excavates indelible histories that haunt even those who’ve shaken the dust of the past.” —Aritha van Herk, author of Judith
“Flood’s eye is unflinching, her language energetic and precise, her vision bracing, passionate and entirely lacking in sentimentality.”—Nancy Richler, author of The Imposter Bride
“The notary in ‘Dirty Work’ has ‘retired from witnessing how rough human existence is.’ Fortunately for us, Cynthia Flood has not … these stories prove her to be among our great North American fiction writers.”—Betsy Warland, author of Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing
“Raw energy is Cynthia Flood’s territory. This is a superb collection.”—Laurie Lewis, author of Little Comrades
“Cynthia Flood is full of surprises. If there’s one thing that characterizes her elegant, crystal-sharp short stories, it’s that element of surprise … they reward the attentive reader with surprise and delight”—Dave Margoshes, author of A Book of Great Worth
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
4 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia Flood
17 books5 followersCynthia Flood grew up in Toronto (apart from two years in England), and after university lived in California and New York. Returning to Canada, she lived briefly again in Toronto and then in Montreal before moving to Vancouver in 1969.
In the late 60s and early 70s Cynthia Flood began to publish short fiction. Left-wing and feminist activity was also a focus through the 80s, along with work on various political magazines and newspapers. She taught in the English Department at Langara College, and was much involved with the faculty union and Women's Studies.
Her first collection, The Animals In Their Elements, appeared in 1987, and was followed in 1992 by My Father Took A Cake To France (both from Talonbooks). Her first novel, Making A Stone Of The Heart, was published in 2002 by Key Porter.
At present she remains connected politically but concentrates on writing. A second novel is underway.
The English Stories
Her latest book, The English Stories, appeared in May 2009 from Biblioasis Press. It's a suite of short stories set in 1950s England, in a girls' school and in a small residential hotel. The collection has won glowing reviews in Quill & Quire, the Globe and Mail online, and the Vancouver Sun.
One story, "Religious Knowledge," won the National Magazines Gold Award in 2000, and "Miss Pringle's Hour" (originally in Descant) appeared in the Salon des Refusés issue of Canadian Notes & Queries in Summer 2008. "Learning to Dance" appeared in the 2008 Best Canadian Stories, edited by John Metcalf.
In the late 60s and early 70s Cynthia Flood began to publish short fiction. Left-wing and feminist activity was also a focus through the 80s, along with work on various political magazines and newspapers. She taught in the English Department at Langara College, and was much involved with the faculty union and Women's Studies.
Her first collection, The Animals In Their Elements, appeared in 1987, and was followed in 1992 by My Father Took A Cake To France (both from Talonbooks). Her first novel, Making A Stone Of The Heart, was published in 2002 by Key Porter.
At present she remains connected politically but concentrates on writing. A second novel is underway.
The English Stories
Her latest book, The English Stories, appeared in May 2009 from Biblioasis Press. It's a suite of short stories set in 1950s England, in a girls' school and in a small residential hotel. The collection has won glowing reviews in Quill & Quire, the Globe and Mail online, and the Vancouver Sun.
One story, "Religious Knowledge," won the National Magazines Gold Award in 2000, and "Miss Pringle's Hour" (originally in Descant) appeared in the Salon des Refusés issue of Canadian Notes & Queries in Summer 2008. "Learning to Dance" appeared in the 2008 Best Canadian Stories, edited by John Metcalf.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 18, 2013
I am trying to learn to appreciate short stories. I am not succeeding.
January 20, 2018
DNFed this one. I wanted to read something different and this one had some buzz, but it was like when you hear about a movie that won a bunch of awards and so you decide to watch it and it's a movie that only the critics would enjoy. After the movie you are left feeling like you wasted 2 hours of your like that you will never get back. A book can steal more than 2 hours of your life.
January 10, 2022
The first handful of short stories were so difficult to get through. It was hard to follow the sporadic and quick character introductions and know who she was talking about.
The last handful of short stories were decent, however. I wouldn't read this again, but I'm gonna put it in my community book nook and hopefully someone else will love it.
The last handful of short stories were decent, however. I wouldn't read this again, but I'm gonna put it in my community book nook and hopefully someone else will love it.
November 21, 2023
If I had to choose one word to describe these stories, I'd choose haunting. Very fun, fast-paced, and visceral stories centered around women and touching heavily on themes of family and siblings, love, sex, and unexpectedly, labour politics, which I thought was a really unique and cool element.
August 19, 2017
i enjoy the short story and this book had some interesting stories for sure.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews