Praise for A Real Animal

“Emeline Atwood's A Real Animal is a strange and astonishing and entirely original book, full of darkness shot through with light, wild and tender. Atwood writes brilliantly about our interior, personal wildernesses, the snarling, wounded animal at the heart of any person. Lucy is an unforgettable narrator: compelling, terrifying, lovable, surprising, human. She, and this book, are extraordinary.”

—Elizabeth McCracken, author of The Hero of This Book

“Emeline Atwood's Lucy is a marvelous, maddening, monstrous creation, and A Real Animal is an irresistible whirlpool of a novel.”

—Joy Williams, author of The Quick and The Dead

Pre-order now: Catapult or Penguin Random House

"In a moment when we often find ourselves numb and distracted, Emeline Atwood has given us an enlivening and powerful novel about what it means to dwell and be changed. It gets under your skin. Atwood is an ambitious writer, as at home in the colloquial as she is in the lyrical. A tremendous accomplishment."

—Stephanie Wambugu, author of Lonely Crowds

"The gorgeous writing in A Real Animal makes its protagonist's risky behavior all the more harrowing-Lucy's intelligence does not necessarily protect her. I feared for the young woman with the extravagant sense of what intimacy looks like, creating near-constant suspense in this powerful debut."

—Amy Hempel, author of Reasons to Live

“An exceptionally rare talent- more, please! I think Emeline Atwood is a genius. In fact, I know she is. You’ll know, too, once you’re about 5 pages into A Real Animal. This is The Big One, folks.”

—Cristin Stickles, Strand Book Store (New York, NY)

“A powerhouse. Atwood’s book is simply one of the best books I’ve read since I started covering books. She perfectly writes the turbulent time when one finishes college and enters “adulthood” – whatever that means.”

—Debutiful