Heartbroke

Name: Heartbroke
Brand: HighBridge Audio
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Author: Chelsea Bieker
ISBN: 9781696608008

Author: Chelsea Bieker

Narrator: Emily Durante

Unabridged: 7 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Highbridge Audio

Published: 04/26/2022

Categories: Fiction, Women, Short Stories

Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of Godshot and "a pitch-perfect ventriloquist of extraordinary talent and ferocity" (T Kira Madden) comes a defining book of Californian stories where everyone is seeking or sabotaging love.

United by the stark and sprawling landscapes of California's Central Valley, the characters of Heartbroke boil with reckless desire. A woman steals a baby from a shelter in an attempt to recoup her own lost motherhood. A phone-sex operator sees divine opportunity when a lavender-eyed cowboy walks into her life. A mother and a son selling dream catchers along a highway that leads to a toxic beach manifest two young documentary filmmakers into their realm. And two teenage girls play a dangerous online game with destiny.

Heartbroke brims over with each character's attempt to salvage grace where they can find it. Told in bright, snapping prose that reveals a world of loss and love underneath, Chelsea Bieker brilliantly illuminates a golden yet gothic world of longing and abandonment under an unrelenting California sun.

About Chelsea Bieker

Chelsea Bieker is the author of the novel Godshot, which was a finalist for both the Oregon and California Book Awards, longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, named an NPR Best Book of the Year, and a Barnes & Noble Fiction Pick. Her writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Granta, the Cut, McSweeney's, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, and other publications. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award and a MacDowell Fellowship. Originally from California's Central Valley, she now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Cortney -

Personally, I just don't like short stories. You get this tiny glimpse into a characters life and it's over just as you're getting invested. But I absolutely fell in love with Chelsea Bieker's writing when I read Godshot, so I still wanted to read Heartbroke. Her writing shined throughout, and as the......more

Goodreads review by Ann Marie

Y’all, Chelsea Bieker is seriously one of the best authors out there right now. I’m OBSESSED with her writing. This is a fantastic short story collection and each character gets underneath your skin in the best way possible. Like, where is the Change.org petition to turn each of these short stories i......more

Goodreads review by Michelle

Truly one of the most incredible short story collections I’ve ever read. Every sentence is a revelation. Chelsea has such a gift for voice, every character sings and leaps off the page. A gorgeous collection of love, loss and longing. Thank you so much to the angels at Catapult for sending an early......more

Goodreads review by Kelsey

I loved Godshot so my expectations were high for Heartbroke and… they were not met. The writing felt clunky and generally like it was trying desperately to be profound. I feel compelled to note that just giving characters odd names does not in fact make them interesting, and that seemed to be a recu......more