Animal Spirit

Praise

“Radiant . . . Marciano claims a spot beside the best practitioners of the form.”
—O, The Oprah Magazine

“This short story collection erupts from Francesca Marciano’s head like Athena sprang from Zeus’s, its tales both measured and erotic, and filled with predators and creatures and worrisome thoughts.”
—Literary Hub

“Really satisfying. . . . Exotic settings, wild animals, Italian details—thank you, Francesca Marciano.”
—Baltimore Public Radio 
 
“[Animal Spirit] surprised me with its power. . . . [Marciano] is such a clear-eyed writer, showing with particular skill and compassion what makes her characters tick . . . [Animal Spirit is], in truth, about us—about all of the lovely and terrible things that make us human.”
—Fredericksburg Freelance Star 
 
“Francesca Marciano possesses . . . a special magic. . . . Marciano displays a spellbinding sense of control over her characters, and she does so with surprising brevity and well-composed pacing. . . . There’s a sense of confidence in each sentence that allows the reader to be as vulnerable as her characters. . . . A passionate, compelling exercise in the fine art of short fiction. It’s proof that the most intimate narratives are often the most powerful.”
—BookPage
 
“The fates of [her] characters are shaped by the animals whose lives intersect theirs. . . . Marciano is a master at making even the most seemingly banal settings seem forbiddingly foreign . . . and she excels at crafting conclusions that are both satisfying and enigmatic.”
—Booklist
 
“[A] sharp-eyed and effortlessly graceful collection. . . . Polished and compulsively readable, this is a real treat.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review) 
 
“Vibrantly described. . . . Rich, leisurely. . . . Death’s lasting power echoes back through the stories, but Marciano’s closing lines offer hard-won hope. . . . Emotionally charged issues of commitment, loyalty, and trust explored with dry yet oddly comforting European wit.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)