{"title":"Monica Drake","description":"\u003cp\u003eDive into Monica Drake's darkly funny and sharply observed novels. Explore tales of quirky characters navigating the absurdities of modern life, perfect for fans of quirky, contemporary fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"clown-girl-book-monica-drake-9780976631156","title":"Clown Girl","description":"Clown Girl lives in Baloneytown, a seedy neighborhood where drugs, balloon animals, and even rubber chickens contribute to the local currency. Against a backdrop of petty crime, she struggles to live her dreams, calling on cultural masters Charlie Chaplin, Kafka, and da Vinci for inspiration. In an effort to support herself and her layabout performance-artist boyfriend, Clown Girl finds herself unwittingly transformed into a corporate clown, trapping herself in a cycle of meaningless, high-paid gigs that veer dangerously close to prostitution. Monica Drake has created a novel that riffs on the high comedy of early film stars -- most notably Chaplin and W. C. Fields -- to raise questions of class, gender, economics, and prejudice. Resisting easy classification, this debut novel blends the bizarre, the humorous, and the gritty with stunning skill.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49514710335761,"sku":"GOR001945252","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49790049222929,"sku":"CIN0976631156G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50097836065041,"sku":"CINB004VGA5GSVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50434165211409,"sku":"GOR002410635","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51893014069521,"sku":"GOR010946523","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53396849295633,"sku":"NLS9780976631156","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53460968603921,"sku":"NIN9780976631156","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0976631156.jpg?v=1770890302"},{"product_id":"stud-book-book-monica-drake-9780307955524","title":"The Stud Book","description":"Sarah studies animal behavior at the Oregon Zoo. An expert on the mating habits of captive animals, she is increasingly desperate to create sweet little offspring of her own. Georgie is busy navigating the terrors of new motherhood--from misplaced postpartum painkillers to the potential sublimation of her identity\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003ewhile her husband finds solace in bourbon and televised violence. (Dead girl on the screen? Take a shot ). Dulcet, defiantly married and childless, makes a living stripping down in high school gyms to sell the beauty of sex-ed. Nyla is out to save the earth while possibly losing her own teen daughter to the world of drugs and the occult. As these friends navigate a space between freedom and intimacy, they realize the families they forge through shared experience are as important as those inherited through birth.\u003cbr\u003e A smart, edgy, and poignantly funny exploration of the complexities of what parenthood means today, \u003ci\u003eThe Stud Book\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates that when it comes to babies, we can learn a lot by considering our place in the animal kingdom.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50348501565713,"sku":"CIN0307955524G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51507010896145,"sku":"CIN0307955524VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307955524.jpg?v=1751195655"},{"product_id":"stud-book-book-monica-drake-9780307955548","title":"The Stud Book","description":"Sarah studies animal behavior at the Oregon Zoo. An expert on the mating habits of captive animals, she is increasingly desperate to create sweet little offspring of her own. Georgie is busy navigating the terrors of new motherhood--from misplaced postpartum painkillers to the potential sublimation of her identity\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003ewhile her husband finds solace in bourbon and televised violence. (Dead girl on the screen? Take a shot ). Dulcet, defiantly married and childless, makes a living stripping down in high school gyms to sell the beauty of sex-ed. Nyla is out to save the earth while possibly losing her own teen daughter to the world of drugs and the occult. As these friends navigate a space between freedom and intimacy, they realize the families they forge through shared experience are as important as those inherited through birth.\u003cbr\u003e A smart, edgy, and poignantly funny exploration of the complexities of what parenthood means today, \u003ci\u003eThe Stud Book\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates that when it comes to babies, we can learn a lot by considering our place in the animal kingdom.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50348515590417,"sku":"CIN0307955540G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000804081937,"sku":"NIN9780307955548","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307955540.jpg?v=1750812360"},{"product_id":"folly-of-loving-life-book-monica-drake-9781892061775","title":"The Folly of Loving Life","description":"Fiction. Short Stories. Women's Studies. Following her acclaimed novels \u003cem\u003eClown Girl\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Stud Book\u003c\/em\u003e, Monica Drake presents her long-awaited first collection of stories. THE FOLY OF LOVING LIFE features linked stories examining an array of characters at their most vulnerable and human, often escaping to somewhere or trying to find stability in their own place. These stories display the best of what we love about Monica's writing--the sly laugh-out-loud humor, the sharp observations, the flawed but strong characters, and the shadowy Van Sant-ish Portland settings.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e What can I say about Monica Drake's stories? They are brilliant, sure. They are hilarious, yes. Each one is a marvel. But more importantly-they are raw and awake and full of life. At the center of each one is the bright beating heart of what literature can be: Relevant, unusual, entertaining, fascinating, unique. These are not characters-and Drake's is not a voice-that you can ignore or forget.—Pauls Toutonghi","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51052534825233,"sku":"NIN9781892061775","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51381371207953,"sku":"GOR014248358","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53153220067601,"sku":"CIN1892061775VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53627621736721,"sku":"CIN1892061775G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1892061775.jpg?v=1751444221"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-monica-drake.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}