And Yet They Were Happy
Helen Phillips
3.83 · 6 ratings · Published: 17 May 2011
"A deeply interesting mind is at work in these wry, lyrical stories. Phillips exploits the duality of our nature to create a timeless and most engaging collection."—Amy Hempel
"Haunted and lyrical and edible all at once."—Rivka Galchen
A young couple sets out to build a life together in an unstable world haunted by monsters, plagued by disasters, full of longing—but also one of transformation, wonder, and delight, peopled by the likes of Noah, Bob Dylan, the Virgin Mary, and Anne Frank. Hovering between reality and fantasy, whimsy and darkness, these linked fables describe a universe both surreal and familiar.
Helen Phillips received a 2009 Rona Jaffe Writer's Award, 2009 Meridian Editors' Prize, and 2008 Italo Calvino Fabulist Fiction Prize. Her work has appeared in many literary journals and two anthologies. She holds degrees from Yale University and Brooklyn College, and teaches creative writing at Brooklyn College.
- sc-fi 4
- classics 3
- magical realism 3
- contemporary 2
- female mc 2
- literary fiction 1
- family 1
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- format - reader age
- anthology 2
- adult fiction 1