a novel by claire oshetsky

Ecco: coming in January 2024

 

A wondrous, tender novel about a young girl grappling with her role in a tragic loss—and attempting to reshape the story of her life

 

Margaret Murphy's first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died. Margaret blames herself for her friend's death, even if no one else does. Left alone to make sense of a senseless tragedy, Margaret wills herself to forget her own, terrifying memories of that day, and to replace them with made-up stories full of faith and magic, and hope, and happy endings.

 

Enter Poor Deer: a strange and formidable creature who winds her way uninvited into Margaret’s made-up tales. Poor Deer will not rest until Margaret faces her past and confesses the truth. And when teenage Margaret strikes out on her own, Poor Deer offers her a sudden opportunity to atone for her sins and sweep the ledger clean at last.

 

Heartrending and boldly imagined, Poor Deer explores the journey toward understanding the children we once were, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of life’s most difficult moments.

 

a novel by claire oshetsky

Ecco: November 2021

 

Tiny is pregnant. Her husband is delighted. “You think this baby is going to be like you, but it’s not like you at all,” she warns him. “This baby is an owl-baby.”

 

When Chouette is born small and broken-winged, Tiny works around the clock to meet her daughter’s needs. Left on her own to care for a child who seems more predatory bird than baby, Tiny vows to raise Chouette to be her authentic self. Even in those times when Chouette’s behaviors grow violent and strange, Tiny’s loving commitment to her daughter is unwavering. When she discovers that her husband is on an obsessive and increasingly dangerous quest to find a “cure” for their daughter, Tiny must decide whether Chouette should be raised to fit in or to be herself—and she will learn what it truly means to be a mother.

 

Arresting, darkly funny, and unsettling, Chouette is a brilliant exploration of ambition, sacrifice, perceptions of ability, and the ferocity of motherly love.

 

a novel by claire oshetsky

Vegetablian Books: September 2018

 

It's the night of the Yellow Puff-Ball Mushroom Cloud and a mysterious yellow fog is making its way across the world, sowing chaos in its path. Mt. Fuji has erupted. The Euphrates has run dry. In America the White House is under attack by giant bears, the President is missing, and the Vice President has turned into a Bichon Frise. It's Apocalypse Time, my friends. Soon the Beast will rise. And six unlikely women must make the perilous journey to the Pit of Nethalem, where they will stop the Beast from fulfilling its evil purpose, or die trying.

 

The Book of Dog is a tale of politics, religion, demon possession, motherhood, love, betrayal, and easy-going bestiality. It's a contemporary Candide with a dollop of Animal Farm and a dash of Metamorphosis thrown in. A ridiculously plausible story set in one possible near-future, it wryly explores how even the most insignificant of people, when working together, can change the world.