Read a Girl #37: “A Manual for Cleaning Women”, Lucia Berlin

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If you are looking for fiction that seems real and delivers on the promise of fulfilling that hole we often feel when contemplating the abyss of existence, then search no more.

Lucia Berlin’s “A Manual for Cleaning Women” is a collection of short stories charged with themes some might find way too bleak, but, trust me, are 100% worth it.

You will read about loneliness, addiction, abuse and many other controversial topics - “Tiger Bites”, a story detailing the horrors of an abortion clinic in Mexico is one of the few pieces of fiction that made me physically ill. However, these are stories told in such a masterful way that you will (probably) pass through the controversy in them to find the beauty within.

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a spectacularly sad ending

My first book, “a spectacularly sad ending”, is a collection of poetry and prose about heartbreak, loss and survival. It chronicles experiences of love, loss, abuse and grief, and is for anyone who is or ever had to mend a broken heart. It’s available as a paperback and also on Kindle. You can get it here.

🎵 This newsletter was written to the sounds of “I’ll Be Your Mirror”, by Courtney Barnett.

We have a playlist with all of the music featured in our newsletters. You can listen to it on Spotify.

About me

My name is Renata and I am the Founder and Editor of Read a Girl, a platform aimed at promoting the work of women writers. My background is in journalism and I spent most of my career covering foreign affairs and travelling around looking for good stories to tell. I love reading and my favourite authors are Elena Ferrante, J.D. Salinger, Julian Barnes and Sylvia Plath.

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