The Old Familiar — Alix Hawley

In The Old Familiar are stories about the art of everyday shock: Hawley's characters think they know other people or themselves until the unforeseen surfaces. Whether subtle or dramatic, these moments of clarity make them question their thinking.

Dark, witty, and tightly written, The Old Familiar will surprise even the reader familiar with crusty undersides of middleâ€"class lives, and the bizarre obsessions that harbour there. Hawley's trademark of controlled tension and psychological scrutiny is at times diabolically funny as it is emotionally arresting, and her exposure of ego and posturing in social networks will have immediate appeal for both a mainstream and literary audience.