{"title":"Kayla Rae Whitaker","description":"\u003cp\u003eKayla Rae Whitaker's novels offer a raw and unflinching look at friendship, ambition, and the complexities of modern life. Perfect for fans of Sally Rooney and Curtis Sittenfeld, browse her thought-provoking stories.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"animators-book-kayla-rae-whitaker-9781911344162","title":"The Animators","description":"From age eighteen on, I had a partner, a kindred spirit. I had a friend. Someone bound and determined to keep me from the worst in myself.    At a private East Coast college, two young women meet in art class. Sharon, ambitious but lacking confidence, arrives from rural Kentucky. Mel, brash and wildly gifted, brings her own brand of hellfire from the backwaters of Florida. Both outsiders, Sharon and Mel become fervent friends, bonding over their love of classic cartoons, their dysfunctional working-class families, and – above all – their craft: drawing. Mel, to understand her tumultuous past, and Sharon, to lose herself altogether.     A decade later, Sharon and Mel are an award-winning animation duo, living and working in Brooklyn, and poised on the edge of even greater success after the release of their first full-length feature. But with this success comes self-doubt, and cracks in their relationship start to form. When unexpected tragedy strikes, long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.    Funny and heartbreaking by turn, The Animators is a dazzling story of female friendship, the cost of a creative life, and the secrets that can undo us.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49538631565585,"sku":"GOR008015185","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51346898157841,"sku":"GOR009614532","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1911344161.jpg?v=1750932331"},{"product_id":"animators-book-kayla-rae-whitaker-9781911344742","title":"The Animators","description":"A dazzling story of female friendship, the cost of a creative life, and the secrets that can undo us.    At a private East Coast college, two outsiders meet in art class. Mel is brash, brilliant, and wild. Sharon is shy, lovelorn, but ambitious. Together, they become an award-winning animation duo, living and working in Brooklyn, making short autobiographical films.     But when the pair decide to base a new project on a long-buried childhood encounter, it forces them to examine the relationships they have with their families, lovers, and even each other.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49558557032721,"sku":"GOR009130015","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50402059682065,"sku":"CIN1911344749G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50402060861713,"sku":"CIN1911344749VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50706141151505,"sku":"GOR009380992","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53254834913553,"sku":"NGR9781911344742","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1911344749.jpg?v=1750867380"},{"product_id":"animators-book-kayla-rae-whitaker-9780812989304","title":"The Animators","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eA wildly original novel that pulses with heart and truth . . . That this powerful exploration of friendship, desire, ambition, and secrets manages to be ebullient, gripping, heartbreaking, and deeply \u003ci\u003edeeply \u003c\/i\u003efunny is a testament to Kayla Rae Whitaker's formidable gifts. I was so sorry to reach the final page. Sharon and Mel will stay with me for a very long time.--Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Nest\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eONE OF THE BEST DEBUT NOVELS OF THE YEAR--\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR--NPR, \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews, BookPage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eShe was the first person to see me as I had always wanted to be seen. It was enough to indebt me to her forever.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo, the friction of their differences driving them: Sharon, quietly ambitious but self-doubting; Mel, brash and unapologetic, always the life of the party. Best friends and artistic partners since the first week of college, where they bonded over their working-class roots and obvious talent, they spent their twenties ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Working, drinking, laughing. Drawing: Mel, to understand her tumultuous past, and Sharon, to lose herself altogether. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature, which transforms Mel's difficult childhood into a provocative and visually daring work of art. The toast of the indie film scene, they stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success come doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. Sharon begins to feel expendable, suspecting that the ever-more raucous Mel is the real artist. During a trip to Sharon's home state of Kentucky, the only other partner she has ever truly known--her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy--reenters her life, and long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A funny, heartbreaking novel of friendship, art, and trauma, \u003ci\u003eThe Animators\u003c\/i\u003e is about the secrets we keep and the burdens we shed on the road to adulthood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eSuffused with humor, tragedy and deep insights about art and friendship.--\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e A] stunning debut.--\u003ci\u003eVariety\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e A compulsively readable portrait of women as incandescent artists and intimate collaborators.--\u003ci\u003eElle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49650699960593,"sku":"GOR013407574","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50268123365649,"sku":"GOR013905590","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50363614593297,"sku":"CIN0812989309VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50366332272913,"sku":"CIN0812989309G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51008117702929,"sku":"NIN9780812989304","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52879395291409,"sku":"GOR011298851","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0812989309.jpg?v=1751329091"},{"product_id":"the-animators-book-kayla-rae-whitaker-9780399589584","title":"The Animators","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52817006919953,"sku":"CIN0399589589G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53652148519185,"sku":"CIN0399589589VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780399589584.jpg?v=1764271720"},{"product_id":"returns-and-exchanges-book-kayla-rae-whitaker-9781917189026","title":"Returns and Exchanges","description":"Following her ‘dazzling’ (The Guardian) debut, The Animators, Kayla Rae Whitaker tells the sweeping story of one Southern family’s rise and fall throughout the 1980s, a tragicomic tour de force about love and marriage, parents and children, and the promise and limitations of the American Dream.    Baker-Taylor’s is a family business. Fran (née Baker) and Fred Taylor run a successful chain of discount retail stores in Kentucky and they’re cautiously expanding: Ataris and Hot Wheels, new branches and new management. With four healthy children and financial stability their own parents could have only dreamed of, Fred and Fran are the American dream: rags to riches, a family dynasty built on years of hard work and long hours. Underneath the surface, however, the business is changing at a breakneck pace, and each family member is struggling to keep up.   Money is transforming Fred, and the extremes to which he will go to fit in with the high society crowd are embarrassing, if not downright dangerous. Oldest son Josiah wants nothing to do with the family business, Sam is seeing things that might not really be there, and Benny and Birdie are growing up with a fraction of the parenting that their older brothers did. Meanwhile, Fran, her family’s stable core, is falling for Wendy, a cashier at Baker- Taylor’s, risking everything along the way.   While trying to maintain the facade of a perfect success story, Fred and Fran discover that in matters of love and money, once it’s gone, it’s gone — no returns, no exchanges.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53116154085649,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53116154315025,"sku":"NGR9781917189026","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781917189026.jpg?v=1771500968"},{"product_id":"returns-and-exchanges-book-kayla-rae-whitaker-9780593733349","title":"Returns and Exchanges","description":"\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER * A sweeping novel of one Kentucky family's rise and fall throughout the 1980s--a tragicomic tour de force about love and marriage, parents and children, and the perils of mixing family with business, from the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eThe Animators\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"This is the novel I've been missing: a sprawling, emotional, and true family saga. I fell completely in love with the characters, the story, the setting. All of it. It's damn near perfect.\"--Ayelet Waldman, author of \u003ci\u003eLove \u0026amp; Treasure\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e It's December 24, 1979, just before closing at Baker-Taylor's discount department store, and Fran (née Baker) is surveying her domain. Her husband, Fred, is charming customers in the front of the store, while last-minute shoppers in the toy aisle are fighting over the lone remaining Atari. The older Taylor kids are on register, while the younger ones' chaos is contained to the stockroom. All is right in the world as the new decade approaches.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e With four healthy children and financial stability their own parents could have only dreamed of, Fred and Fran are the picture of the American Dream--rags to riches--with a successful chain of family-owned stores built on years of hard work and long hours. Underneath the surface, however, the business is changing at a breakneck pace, and each member of the family is struggling to keep up.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Money is transforming Fred, and the extremes he will go to in order to fit in with the slicked-back high society crowd of Lexington, Kentucky, are embarrassing, if not downright dangerous. Josiah, the oldest son, wants nothing to do with the family business; Sam is seeing things that might not really be there; and Benny and Birdie are growing up with a fraction of the parenting that their older brothers had. Meanwhile, Fran, her family's stable core, is falling for Wendy, a cashier at Baker-Taylor's, risking everything along the way. While trying to maintain the facade of a perfect success story, Fred and Fran learn that in matters of love and money, once it's gone, it's gone--no returns, no exchanges.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53514417668369,"sku":"NIN9780593733349","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53614578958609,"sku":"CIN0593733347G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780593733349.jpg?v=1778242943"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/author-books-by-kayla-rae-whitaker.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}