Good Women — Jane Stevenson

Jane Stevenson enchanted readers with her first collection of novellas, Several Deceptions, which the New York Times lauded as an "elegant, surprising collection that delights with its verve and intelligence." With Good Women, she returns to the form that secured her reputation as a compelling and diabolically clever prose stylist. In this trio of audacious stories with a common theme, she investigates just what it means for a woman to be good. From a widow keen on gardening who becomes radicalized late in life, to a housewife on a murderous mission from God, to an adulterous couple who leave their spouses and begin a new life together, only to find that they cannot stand each other, these novellas ably demonstrate why The New Yorker extolled Stevenson as a "meticulous fabulist." In stories reminiscent of Roald Dahl's, Stevenson treats the notion of feminine virtue in her singular, emblematic style with sexy, subversive results, deliciously detailing what happens when good girls go bad.

Jane Stevenson was born in London and brought up in London, Beijing, and Bonn. She teaches literature and history at the University of Aberdeen. She is the author of Several Deceptions, a collection of four novellas; a novel, London Bridges; and the acclaimed historical trilogy made up of the novels The Winter Queen, The Shadow King, and The Empress of the Last Days. Stevenson lives in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.