Carmella Gray-Cosgrove's Nowadays and Lonelier is the kind of story collection that comes along once or twice in a decade, if we're lucky. The kind of collection that reroutes the circuitry of the short story so it hits the heart and brain and gut like a psychedelic. Graceful as Swan Lake, dangerous as a syringe discarded in the bushes where children play. These are very tough, desperately tender stories that stick to your insides. Busting with compassion and stylistic bravado. Think: Joy Williams, Mary Gaitskill, Elise Levine and Zsuzsi Gartner. If you find yourself lonelier nowadays, read this. I promise you will be altered, astonished. -Lisa Moore, author of Something for Everyone
There is a flavour to each story in this collection, the terroir of the places Carmella Gray-Cosgrove writes, evident in the poignancy of the words she chooses. Gray-Cosgrove draws us in with stories about human appetites and failures, of realities, dreams and the places in between. Birds, coyotes, and creatures from the sea share pages with drug-taking teenagers, fallible and loving parents, and characters battered by and battling against poverty. These stories are steeped in wit, empathy, and intelligence and create an intimate conversation about class, desire, and the beauty of being alive. A breathtaking and tender debut. -Susie Taylor, author of Even Weirder Than Before
Nowadays and Lonelier is a dazzling collection of stories that made me feel so much. I marvelled at Gray-Cosgrove's command of language in these vivid explorations of what it means to feel connection, isolation, and hope. -Zoe Whittall, author of The Spectacular
Carmella Gray-Cosgrove's work is profoundly intimate. It names sensations you have experienced but never articulated, even to yourself. She pairs immersive, embodied description with shrewd investigations of how structural inequity informs our interpersonal relationships. It's so rare to find an author who's able to weave humour into work that is both richly descriptive and full of depth. Gray-Cosgrove does it guilelessly in Nowadays and Lonelier. -Eva Crocker, author of All I Ask
Carmella Gray-Cosgrove's Nowadays and Lonelier offers searingly intimate portraits of characters who exist in the tension between holding on and letting go - of people, places, and personal histories. -Prairie Fire
There's a delightful real-life weirdness to so many of these beautifully told stories, and each one is well worth a read. -Herizons
A gorgeous, emotionally arresting collection ... I can't recommend it highly enough. -49th Shelf
