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Set against the backdrop of the Deep South, these nine haunting stories explore big themes–authenticity, the relinquishing of childhood, the acceptance of dreams lost–in a way that ultimately affirms the act of living and the value of human relationships. In “Giving Up the Ghost,” a man sits beside a fatal car wreck to share the last moments of a stranger’s life. In “Witnessing,” a young woman befriends her lover’s ailing wife. In “Rapture,” a housewife’s unexpected romantic encounter during a tornado rocks her tidy suburban existence.

How do we become who we are? And what makes us love one another? With empathy, wit, and beautiful language, Davis blends the real and the imagined to create a kaleidoscope of the human heart.

"A work of deep emotional resonance and acute psychological power"
–Holiday Reinhorn, author of Big Cats

“Jennifer Davis’s stories have a wry sensibility in them, and compassion, a sweet perversity, and a sense of wonder about just being alive. Her tales mark the craziness and sadness of adolescence as it collides inevitably with failed wishes, loss, and sexual desire.”
–Lynne Tillman, author of American Genius, A Comedy

"Unusually insightful and gorgeously written, these powerful stories reveal how sometimes the most unexpected discoveries in the present can illuminate the past and change a person forever.  Jennifer Davis is not only an author to watch, she's one to read–now."
–Cristina Henriquez, author of Come Together, Fall Apart

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Winner of the 2002 Iowa Award for Short Fiction

Davis's characters relate their stories in voices as complex and raw as their southern environment. Each tale may sound slightly familiar—an unwanted pregnancy, a fast car flying down a country road—but Davis moves beyond the familiar stories of the rural South to expose the gaps that connect these women, creating startlingly real and vibrant characters. Although often bleak and sometimes disturbing, Her Kind of Want is a celebration of southern people, their perseverance, their spirit, and their determination to make the ugly beautiful.

“In Her Kind of Want, Jennifer Davis has written a marvelous collection of short stories. She grabs your attention quickly, and once she has it, she won't turn loose. These characters matter. A very fine debut—and one that promises a distinguished career.”
—Steve Yarbrough, author of Visible Spirits

“Jennifer Davis writes like a magician. She writes of the ordinary and the amazing with equal precision, making us believe there is no difference between the two. She catches us up between her heartache for and her terror of the South, until the most northern among us think we were born there. She leaves us breathless and amazed—saddened, hopeful, wanting only more."
—Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness

“The nine stories in Her Kind of Want are sassy and honest, tender and tough. Jennifer Davis takes you on a roller-coaster ride of the Deep South with its beautiful, misunderstood young women scooched up right beside you, holding on for dear life.”
—Patricia Henley, author of Hummingbird House

 

 

 

This Is Not Chick Lit is a new anthology by women writers. It has caused quite a stir in the publishing community. The collection includes original stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Aimee Bender Judy Budnitz • Jennifer S. Davis Jennifer Egan Carolyn Ferrell • Mary Gordon • Cristina Henríquez Samantha Hunt Binnie Kirshenbaum Dika Lam • Caitlin Macy • Francine Prose Holiday Reinhorn Roxana Robinson Curtis Sittenfeld Lynne Tillman • Martha Witt

 “This Is Not Chick Lit is important not only for its content, but for its title. I’ll know we’re getting somewhere when equally talented male writers feel they have to separate themselves from the endless stream of fiction glorifying war, hunting and sports by naming an anthology This Is Not a Guy Thing.”
–Gloria Steinem