In these stories, readers will not find heartwarming sentimentality, but mature literary prose with surprising twists and indeterminate endings, and women of intense substance and spirit. P. J. Worrell understands girls who dream of being wives and mothers in safe cozy homes, then find out that trying hard to secure that life does not necessarily make it happen. Her work is imbued with the feminism that early literary pioneers like Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro introduced in their fiction. Worrell writes close to the bone. Her characters may not be heroically dashing or intrepid, but they stare death in the face without flinching and this is what makes Proudflesh such an important first book. “Feisty, gritty, funny, harrowing, these stories shine with a bright and honest light. Worrell examines the eccentricities, frailties and courage of an impressive range of characters to show us a few things we might have forgotten about ourselves. A debut to celebrate” — Connie Gault “A sharp eye for detail, an economical hand with language, a droll sense of humour and the ability to thoroughly inhabit the points of view of a wide range of characters . . . Peggy Worrell makes good use of these qualities in her impressive debut story collection. — Dave Margoshes, author of Bix’s Trumpet and Other Stories and A Book of Great Worth