The Isle of Youth

The Isle of Youth journeys through lives mired in secrecy and deception. From a newlywed marooned on honeymoon in Patagonia, to an abandoned tourist trailing a troupe of Parisian acrobats, to a woman who travels to Antarctica to unpick the secrets of her brother's death, the characters in these mesmerizing stories are complicated, vulnerable, and ruthless – afflicted by desires which they try to satisfy despite never knowing what they truly are. Each tale in this collection is by turns magical and brutal, making the unusual seem plausible and the impossible suddenly likely. Van den Berg tinges her landscapes with a sense of the surreal, inviting readers to recognise – as her characters do – the surprising ways in which the familiar can unexpectedly reveal its darker contours. 'Laura's stories are uniformly excellent – emotionally complex, very raw – but always with a mixture of pathos and humour that made me think of Lorrie Moore.' Dave Eggers 'Absolutely captivating.'Vanity Fair 'Laura van den Berg is one of the most freakishly talented young writers at work today, and a master of the short story form. Hers are deliciously unnerving, moving, and monstrous tales.' Karen Russell