Literary Hub
“The New York Times published their list of 100 notable books of 2020….we were surprised to see there was only one short story collection on the list….far more than one thrilling, insightful short story collection was published this year.”
November 2020 | Read Here
Electric Literature
“The author, Lara, really guided me with the direction for the cover. We wanted to emphasize the duality of the title Animal Wife. Is she the human wife of an animal? Or is she the animal? The answer changes between stories.”
December 2020 | Read Here
Kenyon Review
“Animal Wife, by Lara Ehrlich, [is] a collection of fairy tales that turn up the volume on the quiet desperation in the lives of women and girls until the characters scream, rage, screw, and otherwise manifest their discontents, and that crackle and pop with such imagination and innovation that I was left roiling with jealousy and love;”
November 2020 | Read Here
PANK
“It is no surprise that Animal Wife is the winner of the Red Hen Fiction Award. Through gorgeous, searing prose, Ehrlich has created a cast of unforgettable heroines who rail against the unfair societal expectations that confine them. By telling their stories with beauty, nuance, truth, and magic, she has finally set them free.”
September 2020 | Read Here
Literary Hub
“These stories, and Ehrlich, are remarkable, and the collection is a standout in a season full of amazing new releases.”
September 2020 | Read Here
Kirkus
“Whimsy and fantasy meet the way things really turn out in stories from a strong new voice.”
September 2020 | Read Here
Parade
“Selected as the winner of the Red Hen Fiction Award, the gorgeous prose is mesmerizing and captivating.”
October 2020 | Read Here
F(r)iction
“Lara Ehrlich has written a collection of stories that allow for escapism. None of the stories may have a perfectly happy ending—and a couple are quite bittersweet—but they take us to worlds where women make their own choices without caring or worrying about how society and others might judge them for it…It’s emotional and honest, which is this collection’s greatest strength.”
October 2020 | Read Here
CLMP
“Throughout 2020, CLMP has been gathering monthly lists of the books forthcoming from our member presses. We’re excited to share this year-end roundup of more than one hundred works of fiction published in 2020 by small literary publishers! “
Winter 2020 | Read Here
Girly Book Club
“There was something incredibly relatable in all of these tales and I could catch glimpses of familiarity within their plots. I don’t think I would be able to put my finger on exactly what it is, but I don’t think that matters. The point is happening without my conscious awareness. That feeling of knowing and yet not being able to adequately express the exact nature of the knowledge. The feeling of recognition and transformation happening simultaneously. It’s why I read. I live for these moments of unconscious self-discovery. That is the real wonder and awe of the author’s storytelling.”
December 2020 | Read Here
Bookshop
“A powerful debut short story collection. At times the stories are funny and at times they take on an ethereal and dreamlike tone almost like fables or fairy-tales. They’re a deep dive into the psyche of womanhood and what it’s like to be a girl in the world. Short story fans—do not miss this one!”
September 2020 | Read Here
Boston Magazine’s “Must List”
“Tear into Animal Wife—New England–based author Lara Ehrlich’s award-winning new collection.”
Summer 2020 | Read Here
The Day
“[Animal Wife] has a dreamy, slightly dark quality delivered through confetti-shower prose and a roll call of richly creative characters in narratives that would do Kelly Link and Italo Calvino proud.”
September 2020 | Read Here
The Westerly Sun
“Author Lara Ehrlich knows how to add a little razzle-dazzle to a virtual event.”
August 2020 | Read Here
Metapsychology Online
“Ehrlich weaves compelling characters and situations, gripping images and language in her deft storytelling.”
October 2020 | Read Here
Story366
“I’ve liked this collection as much as any new collection I’ve read in 2020, and predict this will be on my top-of-the-year list when it’s all said and done.”
Summer 2020 | Read Here
The Arts Fuse
“Lara Ehrlich’s collection contains stories of women reaching across the threshold of the permitted and the mundane into something new and strange.”
Summer 2020 | Read Here
Lara Ehrlich 