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A dazzling collection of short fiction from Pulitzer and National Book Award Finalist, Gayl Jones Praise for PalmaresA 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist. Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 'Gayl Jones is a literary legend . . . A once-in-a-lifetime work of literature, the kind that changes your understanding of the world' Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Guardian'A story woven with extraordinary complexity, depth and skill . . . After suffering the author's absence for far too long, we can rejoice at her return' Robert Jones, Jr, The New York Times 'Page after breathtaking page, her prose is intricate, mesmerising and endlessly inventive and subversive' Deesha Philyaw, Author of The Secret Lives of Church LadiesPraise for The BirdcatcherA 2022 National Book Award Finalist 'A fascinating meditation on Black female creativity . . . Vivid characters shimmer through the pages' Suzy Feay, Guardian'Jones constructs a novel that is part mystery, part thriller, and wholly captivating . . . Jones is an outstanding writer . . . A shining segment of the American literary canon has been restored' Kate Webb, TLS'[A novel with] the plush scenery of a travelogue, the misshapen soul of a noir and the anarchic spirit of a trickster tale' The New Yorker (Books of the Year) 'A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers' Tayari Jones, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE'Gayl Jones is a literary legend' - Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of THERE ARE MORE THINGS'Her prose is intricate, mesmerizing, and endlessly inventive and subversive' Deesha Philyaw, author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIESGayl Jones's long career began with her blistering 1975 debut, Corregidora, which was edited by Toni Morrison, and she is increasingly recognised as one of the great literary writers of the twentieth century. In this new collection of short fiction, Jones's unique talents are displayed in a range of settings and styles, from the hyper-realist to the mystical, in novella-length stories, intricate multi-part narratives and in compelling fragments. Endlessly inventive, challenging and surprising, Jones writes about our diverse world. Her characters are spies, photographers, baristas, cartoonists and revolutionaries; her settings are historical and contemporary, in Europe and the Americas. With sharp observation, wit and poignancy, Jones explores complex identities and unorthodox longings. 'Jones's writing powerfully blends narrative and lyricism . . . Her imagination seems to thrive on outstripping one's expectations' Margo Jefferson'Every Jones publication is a major event, but this one is particularly precious . . . Jones's settings, which span time and geography, vary as much as the identities of her protagonists, which include women and men, Black, brown, and Indigenous people, artists and spies. The common threads are creativity and devastating insight' Oprah Daily, 'The Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2023'