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Winner of the High Plains Book Award for Short Stories Longlisted for The Story Prize Longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice In Literature Award A New Yorker Best Book of 2023 * A New York Public Library Best Book of 2023 * The Frontlist, Adam Morgan's Substack, Favorite Book of 2023 * A Publishers Weekly Best Fiction of 2023 * Named a Best Book of Fall 2023 by BustlePushing intimacy to its limits in prose of unearthly beauty, Vauhini Vara explores the nature of being a child, parent, friend, sibling, neighbor, or lover, and the relationships between self and others. A young girl reads the encyclopedia to her elderly neighbor, who is descending into dementia. A pair of teenagers seek intimacy as phone-sex operators. A competitive sibling tries to rise above the drunken mess of her own life to become a loving aunt.