The Black Leopard's Kiss & The Writer Remembers

The two linked novellas, with their swirling Orlando-esque structures and interwoven narratives, deal with the treacherous nature of memory and how unhealed childhood wounds re-surface in adult consciousness.

Characters “peel off layer after layer of age and the façades accrued in a lifetime until emotional truths are revealed—a Russian doll effect. Novellas that felt like falling into a rabbit hole, where the rules of my world no longer applied and were being changed as I went along….with the characters turning into their own creators. A work infused with the possibility of disaster and violence, a sense of foreboding permeates the pages.”

—Dr. Helga Schier, former executive editor, Random House

“A winning combination of genius. Complimenting each other beautifully, using elegant and poetic prose, these clever novellas explore the life of Sidonie Ross in an autobiographical style with a twist. Intriguing throughout, the possibilities about what is transpiring are only as limited as your imagination allows. Sidonie's story is emotionally complex, with mystery and fantasy elements that elevated it into a wonderful exploration of the mind and memory.”

—Carol Archer Hutchinson, LESBIreviewed

“…so much to admire in [these] brilliantly interlinked novellas: their elegance and wit, the sophistication of the narrative style, the assured and prolonged focus on scene, with all its pure and revealing gestures and withholdings, and the weaving in of larger thematic questions about the interpenetration of literature and life, questions which are themselves mirrored beautifully by the fluidity of gender and sexuality, youth and age.”

—M. Allen Cunningham, author of Perpetua’s Kin

“Laury A. Egan’s deft prose and engaging characters bring her tales to mysterious life. Brilliantly painted settings lure us into her trap, and thrilling storytelling grips us entirely. Sinuous as a cat’s tail, these novellas sink their teeth in and refuse to let go!”

—Jennifer Maloney, author of Evidence of Fire