Mannequin and Wife

<p>In <em>Mannequin and Wife </em> the debut collection from Jen Fawkes sharp and imaginative tales trip seamlessly across borderlands navigating comedy and tragedy psychological and magical realism the mundane and the marvelous.</p><p>Readers of these adventurous fictions encounter a flock of stenographers the strongest woman alive a taxidermist with anger issues an Elephant Girl a fairy on her lunch break and a married couple who live with a department store mannequin. Elsewhere an American actor impersonates a code-breaking Britisher during World War II. A mother awaiting her son's return discovers his personal ad soliciting the services of a cannibal and fears the worst. A criminal mastermind's protégé plots the destruction of Mount Rushmore from within an extinct volcano. A man buys a drive-in theater and transforms it into a carnival sideshow. And an attorney puzzles over how to leave someone his deceased client's heart.</p><p>Fawkes's award-winning stories examine the vagaries of human relationships--mother and child husband and wife mentor and protégé--to tease out the startling complications that arise from our entanglements with those we loathe and those we love.</p>