You read it years ago, but it left a mark



The Thread

The Thread's Must-Read


PaperGirls“St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”
by Karen Russell


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I’m digging back into the stacks for this recommendation. It came out almost exactly ten years ago, and I still think it’s one of the most charming, clever, stab-you-in-the-heart collections of short stories I’ve ever read.

Karen Russell wrote this when she was just 24, and it holds 10 fiercely strange and touching stories about worlds just a step removed from ours, where there are haunted swamps and magic goggles. There are also wolf girls, as the title suggests, and it turns out that growing up a wolf girl isn’t easy.

Russell’s stories are dark. And weird. Try one and see if you like it. You can read Haunting Olivia, a story from the collection, courtesy of The New Yorker online.

What book can’t you shake? That you find yourself thinking about, years later? Tell us on Twitter: @TheThreadMPR

-Tracy Mumford

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