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Review: Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir

★★★★☆ Review: First, I would like to thank Macmillan Audio for providing me with a free advanced listener copy of this audiobook. This is my honest review. Feminine rage and retribution Having read and enjoyed The Night Guest , I was eager to get a copy of Hildur Knútsdóttir's latest English translation! Unnur lives alone until the Cat Distribution System deposits a black cat in her home. Despite finding the cat's owner, the cat keeps returning, and now Unnur must begrudgingly accept that Ásta and her cat will be a regular installment in her home. Getting to know Ásta on a deeper level, she quickly realizes that her new friend is in a dangerous situation and that if she doesn't intervene, no one will. Dead Weight is marketed as horror, but unlike The Night Guest , there are no horror elements. I still really enjoyed it as a fast-paced domestic thriller novella. If you are looking for feminine rage and retribution and a book you can read in a single sitti...

Release Blitz: The Patron Saint of Lost Girls by Maureen Aitken




Literary Fiction / Short Story Collection

Date Published: 09-16-2025

Publisher: Wayne State University Press



In 1970s and '80s Detroit, the city wrestles with an unending economic downturn, increasing violence, and white exodus to the suburbs. Amid all of this is twentysomething Mary who is just trying to grapple with her identity in a world filled with uncertainty.

In this collection of linked stories, we follow Mary as she seeks to cope with and withstand hardship and confront her fears of exploitation, abuse, and death. Along the way, she delves into the complex yet nurturing relationships with her family and friends who teach her to love better, live fuller, and question power. The Patron Saint of Lost Girls presents an unflinching tale of life in the late twentieth-century postindustrial Midwest.

 

About the Author


Maureen Aitken’s short-story collection, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls, received a Kirkus star, the Nilsen Prize, and the Foreword Review INDIE Gold Prize for General Fiction. It will be reissued in September, 2025 by Wayne State University Press. Her stories have earned a Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, a Loft Mentor Award, an award from Ireland’s Fish Short Story Prize, and two Pushcart Prize nominations. It was also nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. Her stories have been published in Prairie Schooner and New Letters, among others. This is her second story featured in The Missouri Review’s Blast section.


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