When I Find I Cannot Kiss You

"A literary sensation in the UK, this prize-winning collection of dazzling short fiction showcases a bold new talent in the vein of Lydia Davis, Deborah Eisenberg, and Amy Hempel. AN ANCHOR ORIGINAL. Lauded as "elegant" (The Guardian) and "exhilarating" (Vanity Fair), When I Find I Cannot Kiss You presents a cast of unforgettable characters standing at the precipice of emotional events (a disastrous breakup, a successful date, an unexpected arrival) and finding it fiendishly impossible to express themselves. In "Attrib," an audio-visual artist who is hypersensitive to sound is commissioned with writing the score to a Michelangelo exhibit's audio guide, trying to find the right sounds to accompany the paintings by experimenting with everything from cat litter to a rib gnawed to the bone from last night's takeout. In "Spines," a family vacationing in France finds themselves at odds with what to do about the hedgehogs enjoying a lengthy swim in their pool. "Alphabet" begins with forgetting the word "hairbrush" and becomes an elegy for the beautiful face the aphasic narrator remembers clearly but to which she can no longer attach a name. With intimate, irreverent, and playful prose, Eley Williams rejoices in both the possibilities and limitations of language, as well as the very human need to be known and understood--despite our own best efforts"--