Women! In! Peril!

Asian American girls and women grapple with loneliness, desire, and the dissolution of their relationships in Marshall’s bold debut collection. A lesbian relationship is rocked in “My Immaculate Girlfriend” when Melody becomes pregnant with what she claims is a “miracle baby,” then is offered the role of the Virgin Mary in a Nativity play. In “Late Girl,” one of many stories exploring the body’s relationship to desire, memory, and trauma, college student Chelsea suffers from amnesia after falling and hitting her head. She enrolls in a modern dance class, kindling an obsession with her instructor, Amy, that brings back memories of the night of the accident. In the apocalyptic title story, one of the female passengers aboard the spaceship The America recalls the death and devastation she left behind in a now-uninhabitable Earth and wonders about her future on the mysterious Planet B, where the ship is destined. Stocking these stories with an eclectic cast ranging from robots to divorcées and sideshow performers, Marshall explores with humor and tenderness the complex emotional interiors of characters who find themselves at a crossroads. This heralds the arrival of an arresting new voice. Agent: Michelle Brower and Natalie Edwards, Trellis Literary. (Apr.)