This Just In… Hair Side, Flesh Side by Helen Marshall

“I know the soft velvet of the flesh side and the smooth, oiled surface of the hair side. I have studied the pattern of follicles, traced the network of veins that undergirds our most precious documents, the records of civilization, the rise and fall of human knowledge . . .”

A child receives the body of Saint Lucia of Syracuse for her seventh birthday. A rebelling angel rewrites the Book of Judgment to protect the woman he loves. A young woman discovers the lost manuscript of Jane Austen written on the inside of her skin. A 747 populated by a dying pantheon makes the extraordinary journey to the beginning of the universe.

Lyrical and tender, quirky and cutting. Helen Marshall’s exceptional début collection weaves the fantastic and the horrific alongside the touchingly human in fifteen modern parables about history, memory and cost of creating art.

You can order Hair Side, Flesh Side here. Visit the publisher’s website here. ◊

This Just In... is a new column that shares basic information on selected titles. Titles are included at the editor’s discretion and on a first come, first served basis. Want to see your new book included here? You can see details here.