We’re particularly pleased to feature Mary Stewart Atwell’s debut novel Wild Girls as our current Book of the Week, because Atwell is one of our contributors. She received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, where she is months away from finishing a Ph.D. in literature, and over the last several years it’s been our great pleasure to publish her reviews and interviews on FWR. Her short fiction has appeared in Epoch, Alaska Quarterly Review, Faultline, and other journals, and in the anthologies Best New American Voices and Best American Mystery Stories. She lives in Missouri with her husband and son.
In the introduction to her recent interview with the author, Editor Lee Thomas writes:
Wild Girls stands on the dividing line between adult and YA fiction, and Scribner will market it as an adult novel. It’s easy to see why: Atwell’s teenage narrator Kate Riordan possesses an incendiary mix of bravado and uncertainty that quite simply makes for a compelling read. She attends an exclusive all-girls academy in Swan River, an Appalachian town plagued by a history of murderous “wild girls.” The specter of turning into one of these vengeful wild girls haunts Kate and fuels the tension of the book. Atwell uses witchcraft, legend, herbal lore, and just enough factual evidence to keep the reader—and Kate—guessing about the mysterious series of events that unfold.
We’re giving away a copy of Wild Girls to three of our Twitter followers. To be eligible for this giveaway (and all future ones), simply click over to Twitter and “follow” us (@fictionwriters).
To all of you who are already fans, thank you!
Further Reading
- Read the rest of Thomas’s interview with Atwell.
- Browse Atwell’s reviews and interviews on FWR, including conversations with Mark McGurl, Lydia Davis, Kevin Brockmeier, and Andrew Porter.
