Little Miseries

“A lively and energetic account of growing up in the Midwest in the last century, in a variegated family assailed by disasters great and small.” —Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of Truthtelling

In the tradition of Mad Men and Rick Moody’s The Ice Storm, Little Miseries captures an era of parental indifference, in which children were left to grow up on their own through tiny moments that both chipped away at their innocence and added to their resilience.

In 1960s Iowa, Kimmy Castle and her siblings are often left to their own devices, catching provocative glimpses of adulthood during cocktail parties, in school, and on the news. There are whispers of sex, a gym coach’s bullying of her classmates, and horrific reports of local abductions and massacres. On the periphery of grown-up lives, Kimmy must try to make sense of her feelings as she navigates the so-called rules of their intoxicating—yet terrifying—world . . .

“Shows how catastrophic the secret world of grown-ups can truly be on the delicate web that is a family. Fakih’s book, her first for adults, will appeal to anyone who looks back on their own childhood with a mixture of nostalgia and horror. Despite the book’s unwieldy structure, it shows Fakih as a gifted chronicler of children’s helplessness and familial angst.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Little Miseries, indeed. But first there’s joy, wonder and resiliency. Fakih lovingly captures the rapture and mysteries of childhood en reroute to a loss of innocence that is heartbreaking yet triumphant.” —Michael H. Weber, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and co-writer of 500 Days of Summer