The daiquiri girls

by Toni Graham

The stories in this debut collection deliver the reader into a darkly comic world where women - whether married, divorced, or single - lead complex urban lives. Jane, Magda, Zoe, and Victoria have all had their bouts with loneliness. They toy with alcohol and drugs, are haunted by memories, and yet their lives are also marked by episodes of joy, whimsy, and the surprise of crazy encounters. They confront life head-on, refusing to cave in. In these stories, we find that women's attempts at self-anesthetization ironically result in highly conscious states of being. While focusing on life's bleaker moments, these women are distracted by its quirky sensory details and sometimes unearth a newer, braver sexuality within themselves.