Synopses & Reviews
A stunning anthology of fierce and dangerous women, featuring stories from Lauren Groff, Deesha Philyaw, K-Ming Chang, and thirteen other award-winning and bestselling authors.
A middle-aged Black woman exacts revenge on the aggressively average men she meets on dating sites. A girl buries pieces of herself in a hole beneath an apple tree, hoping to escape her mother’s life of struggle and servitude. A group of teenage girls compete for the title of "Worst Girl in America.” A young woman in Taiwan becomes infatuated with a female scam caller, a fleeting ghost of a love that blossoms from strangeness. And a wealthy woman goes to unconventional, and perhaps not entirely ethical, lengths to find her dream man.
In these sixteen stories, we see women at their most monstrous — as con artists and murderers, cutthroats and scalpers, ruled by ambition and grief and spite. Characters for those tired of being told to play nice. Dressed to the nines in morally gray, the stories in this anthology comprise an envelope full of teeth: each one distinct, unsettling, and sharp enough to rip out a throat.
List of contributors: Alice Ash, Alicia Elliott, Alison Rumfitt, Aliya Whiteley, Amanda Leduc, Chana Porter, Chantal V. Johnson, Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Deesha Philyaw, K-Ming Chang, Lauren Groff, Maisy Card, Megan Giddings, Sarah Rose Etter, Vanessa Chan, Yah Yah Scholfield
Review
“I love stories about women behaving badly and this collection is a full Vegas buffet of gals who give no fucks, living purely for their own pleasure, or else finding hot and strange pleasures in each other while scamming the system. And of course, thank god, a few of them harness their anti-patriarchal rage by using sex as power to lure men to their own death or destruction. This book had me gleefully flipping pages into the night, whispering yes yes yes. A polyvocal excavation of women’s psyches and desires by some of the most interesting fiction writers out there, this collection feels like a funhouse of big feelings full of surprising twists, turns, and — duh — mirrors.” Sam Cohen, author of Sarahland
Review
“Mesmerizing, dazzling, beguiling. As lustrously complex as womanhood itself, Peach Pit somehow contains every secret you’ve ever whispered to a friend and all the warped things you think late at night.” Samantha Allen, author of Patricia Wants to Cuddle
Review
“Peach Pit is what you get when a bunch of brilliant, audacious writers come together to boldly say the unsayable. Teeming with style, these stories are feral and confrontational, grim and delightfully messy, full of bleak truths and dark humor.” Kimberly King Parsons, author of the National Book Award nominated collection Black Light
About the Author
Molly Llewellyn is a twenty-something queer, disabled book blogger from the UK. She is one half of the editing team for Peach Pit, coming Fall 2023 from Dzanc, which is her first big editing role. She's a big fan of "weird women" lit and anything that is the color green.
Kristel Buckley is an editor, publicist and former publisher from the Big Smoke! She is more than happy to talk your ear off about the unfaithful representation of women in history, and her passion is a more equitable, inclusive future for all stories from all voices.