Author(s): Sarah Quigley

NZ Fiction

A stylish novel of comedy, love -- and almost dying for a doughnut, Shot is a humorous take on what happens when life isn't funny anymore. All she wants is a doughnut. Plain and simple. And no one makes them better here in San Francisco. But when Lena makes for the door, she gets caught in crossfire from a drive-by shooting. Lena's a stand-up comedienne at The Polish Sausage, a San Francisco club, and what she doesn't know about comedy isn't worth knowing. Now, though, this woman who's made her living from exposing the inner-comedy of life decides that life just isn't that funny anymore. So trading her punchlines for snapshots, she makes for Alaska with her camera, where with a mysterious tracker and a speechless child, she ends up digging a corpse from a snowbank. In Shot, the gritty urban cool of San Francisco is as real as the frozen Alaskan landscape. With a cast of eccentric characters straight out of a Coen Brothers film, this pitch-perfect novel of loss, discovery, homesickness and ambition marks the arrival of a great new talent for Virago. She's a prize-winning writer, with awards including the prestigious Sargeson Residency; CNZ/DAAD Berlin Lit.Fellow; Fellow at the British Council Cambridge Lit. Seminar; Commonwealth Broadcasting Short Story Award. Paperback