Slut Lullabies: Stories

The collection that cemented Frangello’s reputation as a writer on the power dynamics of sexuality, gender, and the body

Through beauty, horror, humor, and chaos, Gina Frangello’s electric stories mine the human experience. A gay Latino man whose pious relatives are boycotting his commitment ceremony becomes caught up in hypocrisy and splendor when his lover’s Waspy mother hires a glitzy wedding coordinator. A desperate teen ＂seduces＂ her teacher in order to blackmail him into funding her young stepmother’s escape from their violent home. A wife turns to infidelity and drugs to distract her from chronic pain following an accident. A teenage boy attempts atonement in Amsterdam after having exploited and betrayed his naive girlfriend at home. A socialite must confront her dark past as her husband’s deteriorating illness erodes both her bank account and social standing.

Intimate and raw, this new edition of Frangello’s short fiction includes two previously unpublished stories. A foreword by Rebecca Makkai explains how Frangello’s incendiary work has opened the door for writing about deeply flawed and fascinating women.

GINA FRANGELLO is the author of six books, including the memoir Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, and the novels A Life in Men and My Sister’s Continent (Northwestern University Press).