So I have always walked alleys alone, with my monster face, listening through a wall for the words that might cultivate me, that are contained within the homes of ex-lovers, the ones who caught a glimpse and ran away". In the neon-slick streets of Thea Bowering's imagination, monster girls and femme flâneurs roam, anthropologist's eyes on barroom denizens, disguising themselves in men's clothing and embarking on doomed love affairs. Old World meets New World as the cafés and piazzas of Europe's capitals intermingle with the dust and desolation of the 21st Century modern West. Strikingly modern while also filled with fin de siècle regret, Thea Bowering's first story collection is shot through with allusion and timeless themes given new life".