Overview

A SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE ** HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BOOK FOR FALL

A TORONTO STAR **** BOOK FOR FALL **

A LAMBDA LITERARY REVIEW MOST ANTICIPATED LGBTQIA+ BOOK FOR FALL

AN NBC NEWS QUEER BOOK FOR 2023

ON THE “BRILLIANT” AXIS OF THE NEW YORK MAGAZINE APPROVAL MATRIX

In seven light-filled prisms of short stories, Emily Zhou chronicles modern queer life with uncompromising and hilarious lucidity. Attending to the intimacy of Gen Z women’s lives, these stories move from the provinces to the metropolis, from chaotic student accommodation to insecure jobs, from parties to dates to the nights after, from haplessness to some kind of power.

Funny and devastating, like a trans Mary McCarthy, Zhou depicts with shocking precision the choices and shifts through which we work on each other and ourselves. Tender, merciless, and gracious, Girlfriends is a breath of fresh air.

PRAISE FOR GIRLFRIENDS

“ Girlfriends sounds a loud bell announcing the change of a generational arrival. Here is a writer who can scrap with the likes of Ann Beattie or Richard Ford but attends parties to which those boomers (or for that matter, we millennials) would never get invited.”
—Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

“Intimate and perceptive…comes to life in the details that fill early adulthood for a cast of memorable young queer and trans characters — escape-artist cats, house parties that are equal parts awkward and alluring, and dead-end jobs abided until real life begins.”
— San Francisco Chronicle

“ Girlfriends is great …finely observed and funny and, in a way I find a bit difficult to describe, so very queer ... Zhou is both a great observer and also, clearly, someone with a clear and practised memory for how it felt to have so many feelings. ”
*—Xtra *

“A welcome arrival of a fresh and new voice in short fiction … a strong talent … [Zhou] has a knack for creating memorable scenes and her stories feel lived in.”
— Toronto Star

“In the last few years we’ve been blessed with several stellar entries into the trans woman lit canon, and Girlfriends is looking to be the best of the year. A tight short story collection that never overstays its welcome…heartily recommended.”
— Colorado Sun

“Tender, incisive portraits of trans womanhood, the ties that bind women to one another, and the complex relationships of youth."
— Kirkus

“Zhou’s vibrant debut collection chronicles the often-messy lives of her young trans women protagonists … [they] spring to life through dialogue, body postures, and personal style, whether it’s facial piercings, flannel, or hoop earrings.