L.A. Times Book PrizeIn this dazzling literary debut, Rebecca Curtis displays the gifts that make her one of the most talented writers of her generation. Her characters--young women struggling to find happiness, love, success, security, and adventure--wait tables, run away from home, fall for married men, betray their friends, and find themselves betrayed as well.In Hungry Self, a young waitress descends into the basement of a seemingly ordinary Chinese restaurant; in Twenty Grand, a young wife tries to recover her lost fortune; in Monsters, one familys paranoia leads to a sacrifice; and in The Witches, an innocent swim on prom night proves more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. With elegant prose and a wicked sense of humor, these stories reveal Curtiss provocative and uncompromising view of life, one that makes her writing so poignant and irresistible.