Bloody Mary

After her debut with the widely praised stories in Blood and Milk, Sharon Solwitz offers us her first, darkly radiant, full-length novel. Bloody Mary, which takes its title from the childhood game, tells the story of socially adept, 12-year-old Hadley and her protective mother. They live a privileged life in the Chicago neighborhood of Lakeview, but soon find themselves in a state of chaos and flux. Writing with her signature, edgy prose and ironic humor, Solwitz demonstrates that happiness "isn't our birthright" and that "we have to work for it and even then we can't be sure." We are led to consider our own degree of complicity in the hard times that seem to fall from nowhere.