Treats

by Lara Williams

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Pub Date 3 Mar 2016 | Archive Date 15 Mar 2016

Description

"Dance like nobody gives a crap. Drink like you don't have a family to go home to. Love because what else is the point."

So says one of the characters in Lara Williams' extraordinary debut story collection. Treats is a break-up album of tales covering relationships, the tyranny of choice, and self navigation. This fresh, beguiling new voice paints a portrait of contemporary adulthood, balancing wry humour with a pervading sense of alienation in the digital era.

Williams' characters struggle with how to negotiate intimacy within relationships and isolation when single, the pitfalls and indignities of dating, dragged down by dissatisfaction. Meanwhile the dilemmas of life play out, including abortion, depression, extra-marital affairs, infatuation, new baby anxiety, bereavement, hair loss, sexual ethics, cats, and taxidermy.

"Dance like nobody gives a crap. Drink like you don't have a family to go home to. Love because what else is the point."

So says one of the characters in Lara Williams' extraordinary debut story...

A Note From the Publisher

Lara Williams is a writer based in Manchester. She has had short fiction published by McSweeney's, Litro and various other publications and websites, and her journalism and non-fiction has appeared in the Guardian, NME and the Manchester Evening News. Treats is her debut short story collection.

Lara Williams is a writer based in Manchester. She has had short fiction published by McSweeney's, Litro and various other publications and websites, and her journalism and non-fiction has...

Advance Praise

'What a wonderful collection. Very smart and VERY funny. A stunning mix of measured wisdom and raw emotion. There's also a real sense that these stories - beautiful in their own right - belong together. I loved the connection between them, and the way ideas were subtle and steadily developed from beginning to end.' Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals

'Maybe you meet someone. Maybe you fall in love. Maybe you break up. Maybe someone writes a book about your life. This is that book. Brilliant stories; awesome debut.' Nicholas Royle, editor of Best British Short Stories 2015

'Funny and witty and sad and painfully self-aware.' Chris Killen, author of The Bird Room and In Real Life

'[Treats] is described as a break-up album of tales covering relationships and their aftermath. So far, so Adele - but if the inescapable singer is the beige paint on a crumbling wall, this is more akin to sniffing that paint and seeing every colour in the rainbow.' The Skinny

'What a wonderful collection. Very smart and VERY funny. A stunning mix of measured wisdom and raw emotion. There's also a real sense that these stories - beautiful in their own right - belong...