Shortlisted for the 2017 National Book Award: Wonderful and terrible humans skulk in the myths of Carmen Maria Machado's genre-bending debut.

In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado demolishes the borders between magical realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. In this provocative debut, startling narratives map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited on their bodies.

A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the mysterious green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague spreads across the earth. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery about the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted house guest.

Sexy and caustic, comic and cut-throat, Her Body and Other Parties is brilliant, disturbing and exquisite.