Emily Ruskovich

'Exquisite short stories. They disturb, delight and linger long after finishing' LOUISE KENNEDY'To read Emily Ruskovich it to unwrap a gift' PAULA HAWKINSFrom the critically acclaimed, prizewinning author of Idaho comes a stunning collection of stories that explore the rural landscape of the far Northwestern US, and how unexpected intuitions forever alter the lives of ordinary people. Four years after moving into the isolated house in rural Oregon where her husband lived as a child, the protagonist of 'Victor’s Room' begins to doubt her husband’s account of his family’s past. In 'Round Lake', a young woman’s plans to meet a lover in Tokyo are upended when she learns a startling truth about her mother’s death. In 'Owl', a fur trapper reckons with the dreadful origins of his marriage after his wife is brutally injured by four adolescent boys.Haunting and psychologically provocative, and set against the vivid backdrop of the rural Northwestern US, Nightjarilluminates the secret, instinctive knowledge that lies just under the surface of our awareness.Praise for Idaho'Writing that has the cool sharpness of lemonade . . . Unflinching, unfrilly, multi-layered storytelling that is both beautiful and devastating' Rachel Joyce'You're in masterly hands here... will remind many of the great Idaho novel, Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping . . . wrenching and beautiful' New York Times Book Review'From the first page it is clear that Ruskovich's poetic, spare writing would be enough to compel on its own, but this extraordinary story of a violent event that decimates a young family in northern Idaho is the true engine here . . . enthrals from the outset' Lucy Clark, Guardian

One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. The two daughters, June and May, aged nine and six, drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, sing snatches of songs as they while away the time. But then something unimaginably shocking happens, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction. In a story told from multiple perspectives and in razor-sharp prose, we gradually learn more about this act, and the way its violence, love and memory reverberate through the life of every character in Idaho.