Last Woman: Stories

by Carleigh Baker

From one of the country’s most celebrated new writers, a blistering collection of short fiction that is bracingly relevant, playfully irreverent, and absolutely unforgettable.

There’s a hole in the ozone layer. Are teenage girls to blame?

Floods and wildfires, toxic culture, billionaires in outer space, or a purse-related disaster while on mushrooms—in today’s hellscape world, there’s no shortage of things to worry about. Last Woman, the new collection of short fiction by award-winning author Carleigh Baker, wants you to know that you’re not alone. In these 13 brilliant new stories, Baker and her perfectly-drawn characters are here for you—in fact, they’re just as worried and weirded-out as everyone else.

A woman’s dream of poetic solitude turns out to be a recipe for loneliness. A retiree is convinced that his silence is the only thing that will prevent a deadly sinkhole. An emerging academic wakes up and chooses institutional violence. A young woman finds sisterhood in a strange fertility ritual, and an enigmatic empath is on a cleanse. Baker’s characters are both wildly misguided and a product of the misguided times in which we live. Through them we see our world askew and skewered—and, perhaps, we can begin to see it anew.

Carleigh Baker’s signature style is irreverent, but her heart is true—these stories delve into fear for the future, intergenerational misunderstandings, and the complexities of belonging with sharp wit and boundless empathy. With equal parts compassion and critique, she brings her clear-eyed attention to bear on our world, and the results are hilarious, heartbreaking, and startling in their freshness.

Genres: Short Stories, Indigenous, Fiction, Canada, Audiobook, Anthologies

208 pages, Paperback

Published March 5, 2024

Reviews

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not often I really enjoy a short story collection! I loved Baker’s voice.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these stories!! LAST WOMAN by Carleigh Baker is a stunning short story collection! I was so eager to read this since I love CanLit and short stories. Of course I loved the mentions of Vancouver and Granville and East Hastings. There’s this stand out line in the story Co-op “It’s hard to live in Vancouver.” which is so true! I really enjoyed all 15 stories. There’s the Billionaires story which is told in 3 parts that’s really fun as it’s set in the future. Baker writes women extremely well as these stories featured such great, compelling female characters. This is one of my favourite collections this year!

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada via NetGalley for my ARC!

[Kenneth Cardenas · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for "Outraged on Your Behalf", "Burial Ground", and "Displacement"

[MrsEnginerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book at Indigo during a business trip to Toronto from the "local authors" display. It did not disappoint. Witty and whimsical, Carleigh channels some magical realism into everyday musings and problems. I appreciated the social commentary and empowerment crafted with humor and charm.

The stories about the female billionaires alone were worth the investment. Great book for young adults and ladies looking for a diverse perspective into what it feels to be the only woman...

The fact that Carleigh is an indigenous writer made the journey even more special. (We need more first people's voices in the mainstream, and I sincerely hope/will support until she is one of them. )

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the characters in Carliegh Baker’s smart, sometimes playful but always entertaining story collection, Last Woman, are worried about something. It could be their living circumstances or the environment, or their job. It might be their past, or their future. Regardless of the source, everyone here has good reason to be anxious about what’s coming next.

The collection kicks off with “Midwives,” in which two Métis women—"ecotourists”—are hauling a canoe through the forest in Canada’s far north, a transformative experience for both that, through her clever deployment of language and motif, Baker likens to giving birth. “Catechism” is the story of Charlotte, a junior professor of Creative Writing, whose neurotic lack of confidence manifests itself in a recurring dream that her teeth are falling out. Charlotte, easily intimidated and just a year from having completed her master’s degree, can’t help but regard her hiring as “a fluke.” And to make matters worse, her teaching assistant, a young woman of colour who oozes confidence, has already published a “sprawling space opera trilogy” that’s been optioned for film. With her meagre (by comparison) resumé and unproven teaching skills, how can Charlotte be sure she deserves a place amongst her tenured colleagues?

“Patron Saint of the Hesitant” arises from an emerging genre: pandemic fiction. The narrator, a self-described “empath,” lives alone in a tiny apartment in a “mouldering” building, her solitude exacerbated by the threat presented by the spreading virus. During this challenging time, her only human contact is with Amanda, a fitness instructor, whose archive of online videos she’s working her way through. As an empath, she finds the negative energy that other people bring into the world toxic to her well-being and admits that what she fears the most is not the virus, but what she calls the “big sad:” a corrosive state of mind that finds expression in pessimism and anger. The story pivots on a sudden electrical outage. Since the landlord is mostly absent, she ventures down to the basement to see if she can find a way to restore power and forges an unexpected connection with another of the building’s equally lonely tenants.

Baker’s more whimsical side finds expression in a set of three short pieces, spread through the book, under the title “Billionaires.” These reproduce translated transcripts of reports from the planet Utopis on the fates of three ultra-wealthy humans—Jo Sparks, Eliza Day and Doreen—each of whom have their own reasons for using their wealth and privilege to leave Earth for adventure in outer space. Told from the point of view of the inhabitants of Utopis, who clearly regard themselves superior to humankind, these wry pieces humorously imply that humans might not be the smartest beings in the universe after all.

Carliegh Baker’s outlook is ironic, thoroughly contemporary and a little wacky. Her vulnerable characters often find themselves staring into the void, with no idea how to proceed, a situation most of us have no doubt encountered, probably more than once, possibly every day. Last Woman speaks in a recognizable voice. It’s the voice we use when we try to explain to someone that astounding thing that just happened.

[Maia Caron · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've read Carleigh Baker's award winning short story collection, Bad Endings (and if you haven't, you really should :), you'll find in her new collection Last Woman even more damn good, funny, and refreshingly honest renderings of life in all its glorious fugged up actuality. Baker is up there with my favourite short story writer, Lorrie Moore.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall 3.5⭐️

Star ratings for each story:
- midwives ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Outraged on your behalf ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Catechism 0 DNF
- Alphas ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Billionaires pt1 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Co-op ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Burial ground ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Patron saint of the hesitant ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Billionaires pt2 ⭐️⭐️
- Displacement ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The midden ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Longhand 0 DNF
- Where were you? ⭐️⭐️
- Billionaires pt3 ⭐️⭐️
- Last woman ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the stories didn't really stick out individually, I thoroughly enjoyed Baker's writing across the entire project and am looking forward to reading more. Her characters are vivid, her setting startling, and her plots surprising. This is a collection that explores a lot of different genres and ideas. It's a solid showcase of talent.

[Sarah Grunert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh I adored this short story collection! It hits on so many topics of that fall under the universal experience of "am I alone in this?". Carleigh Baker brings attention to the issues that are plaguing us in ways we don't always know. I was delighted to read this collection and will be looking for more from Carleigh Baker in the future.

[cas · Rating 3 out of 5]

actual rating: 2.5/5 ⭐

midwives: 2/5
outraged on your behalf: 3.5
catechism: 3/5
alphas: DNF
billionaires p1 - p3 (collectively): 3/5
co-op: 3.5/5
burial ground: 4/5
patron saint of the hesitant: 2/5
displacement: 2.5/5
the midden: 4/5
longhand: 3.5/5
where were you?: 2/5
last woman: 2.5/5

[Julia]

I admit I picked this book up because of its beautiful cover - but it completely held up. Wonderfully imaginative stories, nostalgic and sad, yet uplifting and encouraging. A magical collection, will check out her first book.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories with a range of styles and genres. I enjoyed the sci fi ones the best although overall none of these stories had what really gets me as a reader - an idea that worms its way into my head and stays with me long after I have put the book down.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

there’s something about this collection that made me feel very unsettled- as a woman, as a genz-er, as a vancouverite, as someone extremely concerned about climate change…

this book was too nostalgic, too familiar, and all too contemporary. such cool concepts!

[Andrea Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of short stories, and I enjoyed (almost) all of them. The alien 'billionaire' interludes were kind of weird though and felt out of place with the general vibe of the book. Other than that, I would happily read a full novel based on any of the stories.

[Patricia_PS · Rating 4 out of 5]

What really got me about this collection is the author's eye for detail. There are so many clever observations in these incredibly original stories. Some of my favorites were:
- Outraged on Your Behalf
- Displacement
- The Midden
- Longhand
- Last Woman
...though they were all amazing!

[Sean Cranbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible style and sublime humour from this rare talent!

[AJ Buckle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just fine. Nothing spectacular.

[Rebecca Rosenblum]

What a delightful collection--funny, moving, weird, all over the map in terms of genre and form! I quite liked the author's previous collection, Bad Endings, but this is just a whole new level.

[Clivemichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining with some weirdness

[s. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a collection of short stories, what’s not to love.

[M.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection a bold, fresh short stories from this Canadian writer.

[Rana Soleil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was craving some female perspective and Carleigh does write woman very well.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Frankie Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short stories were fun and interesting to read and the messages they told, well they are going to stay with me for a very long time.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this, I'm just never quite left satisfied with short stories.

[Alberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

While each of the stories were very weird, I did enjoy them quite a bit

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fav stories were:
- Patron Saint of the Hesitant
- Displacement
- Midwives
- Billionaires Part 1