A wholly new kind of coming-of-age story about lust, punishment, artistic drive and desires that defy the hard-won boundaries of the self

'Deeply empathetic and horny' CARMEN MARIA MACHADO

'Will quietly engulf you in flames' LING MA

'So incredibly hot' RACHEL YODER

'Hypnotic, sexy, smart' MELISSA FEBOS

When she first meets the choreographer at an artists' residency, they don't hit it off. She finds him loud, conceited, domineering. He thinks her serious, guarded, too precious about her work. But when he invites her to watch his dance company perform, something shifts.

Their interaction at the show sets off a summer of expanding sexual boundaries. Over weekends sequestered at his summer house in upstate New York, her body learns to obediently follow his, and his desires quickly become inextricable from her pleasure - and her pain.

Back in Boston, her roommate's concern amplifies her own doubts about these heady weekend retreats. What does it mean for a young, queer woman to be with an older man? For a fledgling artist to attach herself to an established one? Is she following her own agency, or is she merely following him?

And does falling in love have to mean eviscerating yourself?

About the Author
Alyssa Songsiridej is an editor at Electric Literature. Her fiction has appeared in StoryQuarterly, the Indiana Review, The Offing, and Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, and has been supported by Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, the Ragdale Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, the VCCA and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Little Rabbit is her first novel. A National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree, she lives in Philadelphia.

Reviews
An unusual, erotic tale ... Arresting -- Books of the Year * New Yorker *
We all want some sun over August, and if you want some literary heat you have got to immediately order Little Rabbit. Do not make plans when it arrives as you will want to cancel everything to read this * Glamour *
A worthy contemplation of sexual politics, revealing how losing and finding yourself do not have to be mutually exclusive * New York Times Book Review *
Alyssa Songsiridej's Little Rabbit shocked me. It tells truths about sex, the self, and art-making that I'd never seen on the page or even known the words to think before. It's bold, frightening, and magnificent, a work deserving of this honor and many more * Vulture *
Like a modern queer feminist Story of O, this nuanced exploration of desire and the unseen dance between the lover and the beloved sucks you into its lush, yet precisely-rendered reality, one edged with ambiguity regarding possession and power, perception and identity * Electric Literature *
It's the sexiest book we've read in a long time...a seductive, deeply complex exploration of power and agency, and lust and love. It rushes through you and leaves you stunned * goop *
A darkly sensuous tale of awakening that will quietly engulf you in flames * Ling Ma, author of SEVERANCE *
Little Rabbit is a glorious debut-riveting, soulful, cerebral, and the sexiest novel I've ever read. In this story about ambition, power, art-making, and the pursuit of beauty, Alyssa Songsiridej thrillingly interrogates the conflict between reason and desire, between our public and private selves. My life is richer for having read this book. Yours will be too * Jessamine Chan, author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS *
A deeply empathetic and horny novel-a love letter to bottoming and being an artist and following yourself to the end of everything * Carmen Maria Machado, author of IN THE DREAM HOUSE *
Eviscerating. Sophisticated. So incredibly hot * Rachel Yoder, author of NIGHTBITCH *
Scintillating and seductive, almost unbearably perceptive, Little Rabbit announces the arrival of a brilliant new voice in literature, one who knows how to make the body sing * Alexandra Kleeman, author of SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN *
Little Rabbit turned me inside out and left me utterly in awe. This daring exploration of the boundaries between desire and obliteration will have you asking who is in control. A fearless portrayal of a young writer shaping her life and art, even as they collide * Sanae Lemoine, author of THE MARGOT AFFAIR *
What a hypnotic, sexy, smart, unputdownable book! It delves into so many of my favorite subjects: erotic obsession, art, friendship, and the slippery and surprising nature of selfhood * Melissa Febos, author of GIRLHOOD *
An exhilarating story of intense desire, creative ambition, sex, and power. Little Rabbit's honest exploration of kink, control, and sexual freedom obsessed and transported me. When I reached the final page, I was stunned * Hanna Halperin, author of SOMETHING WILD *
A fierce and utterly compelling look at the nearly biological instinct to nurture a love affair, even when that love isn't understood by others, and it blows your world apart. Little Rabbit is a totally absorbing debut: nuanced, intelligent, and sexy as hell * Courtney Maum, author of THE YEAR OF THE HORSES *
Little Rabbit is a brilliant debut by a rare talent. Songsiridej writes with tremendous precision, intelligence, and insight about the complexities of desire-how it can prompt the impulse to empower, possess, erase, and recreate one's lover and oneself * Chloe Cooper Jones, author of EASY BEAUTY *
It's the first great novel of the summer * Debutiful *
A sweetly shocking novel exploring identity, love, lust, friendship, art, pain and possession * Ms *
Explores power dynamics and kink within an unexpected relationship with riveting nuance ... Little Rabbit arrives at just the right time, serving as a fearless inquiry into the power of bodies and intimacy * Observer *
Little Rabbit refuses to play into tropes that to be submissive is to be inherently exploited, and is also a nuanced exploration of BDSM and power. It's hard to put down, sexy and not predictable * Buzzfeed *
This is a New York novel of simmering resentment, artist wannabes and successful artists, have-nots mocking the haves. Then a tantalizing queer confessional, where a bisexual woman writer is pulled to the kind of patriarchal male dancer she'd never spared a second for. Here the nearness of artistic fame is so palpable, you will desire it for the narrator nearly as much as she desires the consummation of her glittering S&M relationship. Skillfully and tautly drawn * San Francisco Chronicle *
A really fascinating, sensual exploration of identity, creativity and what we sacrifice for love * Red *
Expertly dives into the messy relationship between perception and desire... the reader is left with a profoundly moving experience thanks to an author capable of navigating sexual politics without compromising on steamy scenes, leaving a flourishing heat on the page * Big Issue *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349017884
Author Alyssa Songsiridej
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 400g
Dimensions(mm) 218mm * 142mm * 28mm