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Please Don’t Touch the Body: Stories
“A magnificent debut” (Laila Lalami) that explores loneliness and community, religion and repression, and the pleasure and pain of being a woman.
The 11 stories in Please Don't Touch the Body are at once dry and comic, grounded and surreal as they play deftly with genre and expectation to explore human alienation.
In the collection's first story, a Japanese woman finds healing in a secret life as a sex advice columnist after being fetishized by her white husband for decades, while in the fourth story, Ronald Reagan is reincarnated as a puppy and must cope with being squeezed, dropped, and controlled by his young, queer owner. And in “Thank You No Thank You” a young woman who grew up in a cloistered religious community and escaped to a liberal law school grapples with the rules she learned in childhood, the rules of her new life, and her actual desires as she vacations with her long-term boyfriend.
Together these inventive, emotionally rich stories reveal an incredible new vision and voice and a writer to watch.
The 11 stories in Please Don't Touch the Body are at once dry and comic, grounded and surreal as they play deftly with genre and expectation to explore human alienation.
In the collection's first story, a Japanese woman finds healing in a secret life as a sex advice columnist after being fetishized by her white husband for decades, while in the fourth story, Ronald Reagan is reincarnated as a puppy and must cope with being squeezed, dropped, and controlled by his young, queer owner. And in “Thank You No Thank You” a young woman who grew up in a cloistered religious community and escaped to a liberal law school grapples with the rules she learned in childhood, the rules of her new life, and her actual desires as she vacations with her long-term boyfriend.
Together these inventive, emotionally rich stories reveal an incredible new vision and voice and a writer to watch.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published July 14, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 4, 2026
Stunning, hilarious, and devastatingly profound. I feel like I know all these women and at times, have been them. Highly recommend
August 2, 2026
Admittedly, because I do not read many short stories, I set this book down in between stories and did not finish it as “fast” as I probably could have or originally intended to, and that ended up being a very happy accident.
It sat on my dining table for a couple weeks, as I was determined not to pick it back up until I had the mental bandwidth and clarity to resume, but to be honest, I think the BEST time to pick up a book of short stories like PDTTB is when you ARE feeling unsure, scatterbrained, vulnerable, uninspired, etc. etc. (@me)
These stories made me feel a very full range of emotions and each page flip left me antsy, excited, …scared even(?), curious, and super eager for more.
[Ironically] Doyle’s acknowledgments section made me cry. Happy. Tears. Streaming. Just a beautiful dedication to her village and effortlessly heart-tugging prose.
It sat on my dining table for a couple weeks, as I was determined not to pick it back up until I had the mental bandwidth and clarity to resume, but to be honest, I think the BEST time to pick up a book of short stories like PDTTB is when you ARE feeling unsure, scatterbrained, vulnerable, uninspired, etc. etc. (@me)
These stories made me feel a very full range of emotions and each page flip left me antsy, excited, …scared even(?), curious, and super eager for more.
[Ironically] Doyle’s acknowledgments section made me cry. Happy. Tears. Streaming. Just a beautiful dedication to her village and effortlessly heart-tugging prose.
August 2, 2026
I went into this collection not knowing what to expect. I absolutely loved the first story, I found it quite quirky and very funny, I liked the alien aspect. These stories move between the surreal and the extremely grounded, often within the same story. As the collection went on, my reactions were more mixed. I loved the exploration of women feeling stuck, in their bodies, marriages, and roles they find themselves in. The writing is genuinely excellent, some stories just landed more than others. A 4.3 for the writing
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July 23, 2026I really loved the first story, which was speculative. The rest of the stories just reminded me of the quiet melodrama realistic fiction I’ve written and then realized were kinda boring and now I focus on writing specfic mostly. I’d like to read more specfic from this author!
July 31, 2026
The Ronald Reagan story blew my mind!
July 28, 2026
I had high hopes for this short story collection after the first two entries in this collection of eleven tales.
The first story focused on a housewife whose husband, for years, is abducted by aliens every week on the same day for the same amount of time - a few hours. She uses this break from her marriage to write her advice column, which is unconventional to say the least. The second story centers a woman whose elderly mother discloses the existence of a previous daughter in the post-surgical twilight. Two years later, at the elderly woman's wake, a mysterious woman attends whom the narrator begins to project the fantasies of her lost sibling. Let's just say things turn out more surprisingly than expected.
Both of these stories were inventive, creative, novel, and charmingly written. It was genius on Emily Doyle's part (or her editor's) to open the novel with them because they are, by far, the two best stories.
Sadly, however, the rest of the tales are just not as interesting, ingenious, or even as well written. In fact, the rest of the collection is rather tedious and inconsequential. Whether it's an homage to the documentary "My Octopus Teacher" (which I loathed), Ronald Reagan reincarnated as a puppy who gets castrated, or just people finding out they have cancer, reading books while pregnant, buying crickets for their kid's lizard, even just taking an elevator... the latter nine tales just did not do anything for me.
The best way I can describe what it feels like to read these stories is to assume they were written while studying to obtain an MFA. As a creative writing professor, I can pinpoint the type of creative fiction that emerges from certain types of students and the literary crutches that can become hard to break free of. In several of the stories you will have a protagonist suddenly reminisce about events in the past and the two timelines will begin to alternate conveniently and regularly because they are ACTUALLY TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER. The end result is a body of work that feels immature, of a writer who has glimpses of brilliance, but has not quite found their full voice or perspective yet, and so the generic feeling tales actually hurt her, rather than serve as a calling card and the promise of where she could go next (because heaven knows short story collections are never big sellers, lucrative, or the means to become successful).
I wanted to like this more, especially given the promise of those initial two stories. In the end is a forgettable collection, that does have two standouts worth reading and checking out.
The first story focused on a housewife whose husband, for years, is abducted by aliens every week on the same day for the same amount of time - a few hours. She uses this break from her marriage to write her advice column, which is unconventional to say the least. The second story centers a woman whose elderly mother discloses the existence of a previous daughter in the post-surgical twilight. Two years later, at the elderly woman's wake, a mysterious woman attends whom the narrator begins to project the fantasies of her lost sibling. Let's just say things turn out more surprisingly than expected.
Both of these stories were inventive, creative, novel, and charmingly written. It was genius on Emily Doyle's part (or her editor's) to open the novel with them because they are, by far, the two best stories.
Sadly, however, the rest of the tales are just not as interesting, ingenious, or even as well written. In fact, the rest of the collection is rather tedious and inconsequential. Whether it's an homage to the documentary "My Octopus Teacher" (which I loathed), Ronald Reagan reincarnated as a puppy who gets castrated, or just people finding out they have cancer, reading books while pregnant, buying crickets for their kid's lizard, even just taking an elevator... the latter nine tales just did not do anything for me.
The best way I can describe what it feels like to read these stories is to assume they were written while studying to obtain an MFA. As a creative writing professor, I can pinpoint the type of creative fiction that emerges from certain types of students and the literary crutches that can become hard to break free of. In several of the stories you will have a protagonist suddenly reminisce about events in the past and the two timelines will begin to alternate conveniently and regularly because they are ACTUALLY TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER. The end result is a body of work that feels immature, of a writer who has glimpses of brilliance, but has not quite found their full voice or perspective yet, and so the generic feeling tales actually hurt her, rather than serve as a calling card and the promise of where she could go next (because heaven knows short story collections are never big sellers, lucrative, or the means to become successful).
I wanted to like this more, especially given the promise of those initial two stories. In the end is a forgettable collection, that does have two standouts worth reading and checking out.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
About a third of the way into this book I started describing it to someone and said, "It feels like she is in the middle of getting an MFA." She has an MFA, so I was half right. The moments of this that work--certain turns of phrase, clarity of intention, sudden crystalline insights of character--are captivating indications of great potential. They're very, very good, and when they come along they are sometimes breathtaking.
The parts of this that don't work come in the form of overworking her themes, underpolishing her sentences, and giving the impression of doggedly chasing what an MFA program will teach you is a Good Literary Short Story. There's a quality of these stories that feels very young--still wobbly in execution, still needing someone to wring out the first impulses and leave behind discipline and precision. It's challenging, because Doyle seems to have finished school and started teaching it, and I don't know who comes around to help a writer develop their craft once the academy has already told them they're all set.
Thematically--Much of the book is concerned with taboo--experiencing the violence of its violation, questioning its validity, provoking the reader, queering without condoning. It's sometimes intriguing, sometimes revolting, and what's with all the dogs? This willingness to overstep accepted decency is not either a net positive or negative, because almost exactly half the time I felt like the transgressiveness was thoughtful, if not necessarily well-honed, and the other half it again felt like no more than a crude instrument of exploration--testing her own nerve and the audience's trust.
She loves queerness. She really seems to hate men. Let this be a neutral statement; I did not make her write only horrible men.
I've done her the grave injustice of reading Shirley Jackson AND Lauren Groff AND Daphne Du Maurier short stories in the last six months, and beside them she's coltish. But again, with ideas. With insights. With flashes of brilliance. When her novel comes around I will give it a try and if I am being very sweet I won't read her up against Groff again.
The parts of this that don't work come in the form of overworking her themes, underpolishing her sentences, and giving the impression of doggedly chasing what an MFA program will teach you is a Good Literary Short Story. There's a quality of these stories that feels very young--still wobbly in execution, still needing someone to wring out the first impulses and leave behind discipline and precision. It's challenging, because Doyle seems to have finished school and started teaching it, and I don't know who comes around to help a writer develop their craft once the academy has already told them they're all set.
Thematically--Much of the book is concerned with taboo--experiencing the violence of its violation, questioning its validity, provoking the reader, queering without condoning. It's sometimes intriguing, sometimes revolting, and what's with all the dogs? This willingness to overstep accepted decency is not either a net positive or negative, because almost exactly half the time I felt like the transgressiveness was thoughtful, if not necessarily well-honed, and the other half it again felt like no more than a crude instrument of exploration--testing her own nerve and the audience's trust.
She loves queerness. She really seems to hate men. Let this be a neutral statement; I did not make her write only horrible men.
I've done her the grave injustice of reading Shirley Jackson AND Lauren Groff AND Daphne Du Maurier short stories in the last six months, and beside them she's coltish. But again, with ideas. With insights. With flashes of brilliance. When her novel comes around I will give it a try and if I am being very sweet I won't read her up against Groff again.
July 17, 2026
#PLEASEDONTTOUCHTHEBODY by #emilydoyle confronts schisms of the self. Each story reveals the ways in which women must carve out a space for themselves in a world that shows them little regard. My favorites were the ones centered on motherhood. There is THE DIVER, where a woman is no longer a wife but still a mother. She takes up a former hobby and encounters an octopus, which she tentatively shares with her son as a way to reconnect with him. In THE PAINS OF FINDING OUT, a heavily pregnant woman remains undecided on having children. She becomes enraptured with a book on a vengeful nanny and continues reading even as her water breaks lol. It’s been years since I picked up a short story collection and I forgot how their length makes for great stopping points throughout the day! I’m delighted I get to share my thoughts on this debut during #pubweek. Thanks so much to @bloomsburybooksus for sending me a finished copy.
July 26, 2026
Please Don't Touch the Body is a MUST READ debut collection from Emily Doyle. The closest work I can compare this collection to in terms of how I felt reading it is Ted Chiang's collections (Stories of Your Life and Others; Exhalation)-- introspective, surreal, whimsical, heartfelt. Doyle takes you through an amazing range of settings and characters, but the collection is cohesive and whole, with very fun but subtle easter eggs connecting stories. One overarching theme of the collection is the search for who you are when you have experience a violation, or have been stuck or forced into a role or are recovering, and something drastic has to happen to dislodge you and send you on your way. As fictional and imaginative as the stories get, the collection resonated and felt very real to me. Excited to re-read Please Don't Touch the Body again soon.
July 27, 2026
If you like your literary fiction to have a dose of surreal storytelling, “Please Don’t Touch the Body” is the book for you! Throughout each of these stories, our characters find ways to express themselves in the ever-changing and ever-disheartening world of womanhood. Some stories will make you laugh, some will make you cry, some will make you stare at a wall- and some will make you do all 3. Each story has its own unique voice and the ability Doyle has to switch voices within these pieces is a testament to the skill and nuance the author holds.
This fun and easy-to-devour book of short stories is out now! Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing, NetGalley, and Emily Doyle for the eARC to review. It was such a joy spending time with each of these characters.
This fun and easy-to-devour book of short stories is out now! Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing, NetGalley, and Emily Doyle for the eARC to review. It was such a joy spending time with each of these characters.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is a fantastic set of stories that manages to be both really tender and genuinely laugh out loud funny. Doyle does an impressive job of using this eclectic cast of characters to interrogate feelings of love, grief, desire, and the ultimate alienation of the self that we risk in the day to day grind of life. She intersperses these thoughtful reflections with moments of such zany amusement that this book almost instantly became a favorite of the year! I’d recommend this book to almost anyone and I will definitely be checking out more of her work in the future. Thank you to the author and publisher for sending me a review copy, i loved it!
May 17, 2026
I could have finished this in one sitting if time, peace and circumstances had aligned. Each story was better than the last. There was a point in one of the stories where she described a smell with such depth that I could actually smell it. It kind of left a cloying in my throat. I really needed to lose myself and what a delightful escape this was. A debut novel has been promised. I hope she’s somewhere undisturbed, with a cup of tea, typing her little heart out. I’m ready to inhale and ruminate. This book is why I will never delete the Goodreads app. To think I almost missed the gem.
July 23, 2026
3.5 stars rounded up
Not a novel but a collection of short stories about people who feel disconnected. Doyle uses these short stories to explore elements of loneliness and womanhood but also works in aspects like aging and identity. Each story completely stood out on its own and a lot of the concepts were other worldly and odd however, I love that Doyle didn't ever over explain what was going on. We just got the story as it was meant to be which allowed all those emotional truths to really be the stars of the show.
Not a novel but a collection of short stories about people who feel disconnected. Doyle uses these short stories to explore elements of loneliness and womanhood but also works in aspects like aging and identity. Each story completely stood out on its own and a lot of the concepts were other worldly and odd however, I love that Doyle didn't ever over explain what was going on. We just got the story as it was meant to be which allowed all those emotional truths to really be the stars of the show.
March 15, 2026
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc! This is actually a 3.5 star for me. Lovely little collection of stories that I devoured within a few hours. My favorite story was definitely the title story, “Please don’t touch the body”. The themes of love, grief, and repressed trauma really resonated with me, and I thought the writing was beautifully subtle. Additionally, each story had such a unique cast of characters and plot. I will definitely read more from this author in the future!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This collection was an absolute delight to read. I devoured it in just a few hours. Each story felt stronger than the last, showcasing the remarkable ability to create unique characters, compelling plots, and deeply emotional themes. The exploration of love, grief, and repressed trauma resonated with me, and the writing was beautifully subtle throughout. I picked up this book hoping to lose myself for a while, and it provided the escape I needed.
July 23, 2026
3.5 stars rounding up! This was a solid collection of stories, but some of them were misses for me. I particularly enjoyed the one about Ronald Reagan reincarnated as a dog for its sheer absurdism and reflections on queer longing. I also found The Diver to be very moving with its themes on motherhood and rekindling connection with children. Overall, there were some real gems here that I loved. Very excited to see what Doyle puts out next.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
Not usually into short story collection, but this one was so much fun. Doyle expertly crafts several completely different stories and approaches while simultaneously keeping her voice and some level of cohesion between stories.
From alien probing to Ronald Reagan as a dog, this book was a wild and satisfying read from start to finish.
From alien probing to Ronald Reagan as a dog, this book was a wild and satisfying read from start to finish.
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July 28, 2026Some really good stories but others that somewhat dragged for me. It’s really hard to rate a book like that bc some of the stories were great, some almost so, some really not for me.
A few of the stories disappointed me because I wanted them to do more, others because they tried to do too much. But mostly because the ideas were all pretty good to great.
A few of the stories disappointed me because I wanted them to do more, others because they tried to do too much. But mostly because the ideas were all pretty good to great.
March 26, 2026
March 2026 ARC: Sensual, moving, and utterly bizarre. This is the kind of story collection you recommend to a queer friend that you secretly have a crush on.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
ewwww!!!
July 23, 2026
These stories are well written and unique, even weird. I found the one narrated by Reagan reincarnated as a puppy kind of gross.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews