![]() ![]() This collection is about many things-girlhood, transgression and morality, Florida, death, transformation, the souls of animals-but I would argue it is most of all about the messy work of love. Hate, scorn, violence, and shame exist side by side with tenderness, generosity, and sacrifice. In Moniz’s debut collection, Milk Blood Heat(Grove Press), two young girls-one white, one black-make a blood pact to become sworn sisters, a connection that persists even after one befalls a terrible tragedy an ageing man whose cancer-stricken wife refuses chemotherapy treatments struggles with his own fragility at the local watering hole a woman starts to see spectral body parts everywhere after losing a pregnancy. It felt true and taboo in the way that the greatest fiction often does. ![]() In one of the first stories I read by Dantiel Moniz, a woman grappling with a failing marriage wonders, “If this near-universal disdain a daughter can feel for a mother might be necessary for the appreciation that comes later, if this is what it takes to love.” I was struck by the honesty of that line, the story’s willingness to face the ugly things we often think or feel about those we most love. ![]()
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