Householders

Praise for Householders The stories in Householders are haunting and enigmatic, with a clarity of emotion that cuts through the dreamlike atmosphere Cayley has crafted ... With incredible attention to the nuance of interpersonal relationships-whether familial, romantic, situational, dysfunctional-each story in Householders is a window into an eerie but wonderful world. -Fawn Parker, 49th Shelf You don't have to come from a foreign country to be a stranger in your land. Cayley's haunting short stories weave together stealthily, gentle until the cosh strikes your skull ... Brutally, beautifully lyrical. -Lavender Magazine Full of startling turns of phrase and evocative descriptions ... Cayley's background as a poet-she has published two collections of poetry-shines ... With Householders, Cayley has envisioned a world that mirrors our own like a distorted funhouse-a place where the moral and physical stakes are heightened, where emotional bonds run deeply, and where something menacing is often lurking. It's a frightening world, but it makes for a compelling story collection, as good to tear through for the narrative as it is to savor (and savor again) for the language. -ZYZZYVA Literally took my breath away ... Kate Cayley is splendid in her deft arrangement of the sentence, and in her depiction of the quotidian but just askew enough to be new and surprising. These stories are rich, absorbing, and oh so satisfying, and I predict this as one of the big books of the fall literary season. -Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This Reading each story in Kate Cayley's Householders is like entering a household, one that is unique in its treasured secrets and hidden corners of glory and shame. The inhabitants-a trio of aging hippies, a blogger masquerading as a nun, a group of traumatized escapees from a fanatical commune, a washed-up but still brilliant musician-are all seekers after whatever good life, or good death, they can find. Having met them, the reader is left with a lingering sense of responsibility, as for worrisome old friends who are loved in spite of themselves. -KD Miller, Scotiabank Giller Prize-nominated author of Late Breaking Taut and brimming with clarity. -Souvankham Thammavongsa, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning author of How to Pronounce Knife Cayley's world is a dangerous place, all the structures built with discarded slivering wood and rusted nails, but one where strange sacredness arrives in the middle of the ordinary day. The mysterious reasons that push her misplaced, displaced people are as convincing as memories, painful but necessary to relive. Read these stories, you'll be glad you did. -Marina Endicott, author of The Difference Praise for Kate Cayley Cayley illustrates our human desire for permanence, and the corresponding impermanence of the physical body. Other Houses weaves a rare complexity of contemplations through metaphor, shape-shifting, and philosophical considerations. Efficiently stated, Cayley's ideas are wise and well worth a read. -Quill & Quire Though its narrative is simple, the play is eloquent, subtly shaped and offers a formidable confrontation between its two characters, a painter and an army officer. -NOW Magazine When This World Comes to an End marks a captivating poetic debut for the busy writer ... Despite its breadth of history, When This World Comes to an End offers a succinct reflection of what has been and what will be. The purview of history is considered through known figures just as much as the insignificant acts of the everyday. -Toronto Review of Books Cayley shows us, in How You Were Born, that the impulse to collect and then work through anxiety imaginatively is important and powerful. -Cleaver Magazine Reading each story in Kate Cayley's Householders is like entering a household, one that is unique in its treasured secrets and hidden corners of glory and shame. The inhabitants-a trio of aging hippies, a blogger masquerading as a nun, a group of traumatized escapees from a fanatical commune, a washed-up but still brilliant musician-are all seekers after whatever good life, or good death, they can find. Having met them, the reader is left with a lingering sense of responsibility, as for worrisome old friends who are loved in spite of themselves. -K.D. Miller, Giller-nominated author of Late Breaking