A standout in an impressive body of work that has been called “mesmerizing . . . visceral . . . exquisite” (Chicago Tribune), Hot Springs Drive is a twisting literary page-turner that will appeal to readers of Celeste Ng and Mary Gaitskill.

Jackie loved her best friend Theresa from the moment they met nearly fifteen years ago. Now, Theresa is dead and everyone knows who killed her. Jackie Newsome wants to be many things, but a martyr has never been one of them. She is an ex-emotional eater and mother of four, who has finally lost the weight she long yearned to be free of. In her new, sharp-edged body, leaving her old self behind proves harder than she ever imagined. And while she believes she should be happier, a new hunger chases her, and motherhood threatens to subsume what little is left of her.

She finds comfort in her best friend Theresa, whose seemingly perfect life she desperately covets. The two navigate the trials of motherhood side by side – Theresa with her quiet, cherubic daughter, and Jacquelyn with her rambunctious, unruly boys. Their bond is tight, but it is not enough to keep Jacquelyn, finally moving through the world in the body she has always wanted, from stealing a bit of Theresa’s perfect life by having an increasingly torrid affair with Theresa’s husband, Adam.

Hot Springs Drive is a dark, heart-pounding exploration of one woman’s deepest desires, and the lives she will destroy to satisfy them. In her third and fiercest novel, acclaimed literary voice Lindsay Hunter deftly peels back the fragile veneer of two suburban families and the secrets roiling between them.

Praise for Lindsay Hunter:

“A novel of staggering vision and tremendous heart. On full display here are Hunter’s nonpareil technique, her skillful excavation of her characters’ interior landscapes — a digging done both ruthlessly and yet with abundant mercy — and her inspired inventiveness at the level of language.”—Los Angeles Review of Books on Eat Only When You’re Hungry

“This novel takes us on a road trip with an American Everyman into the heart of American hunger—for freedom, for connection, for junk food, for love. Hunter has a brilliant sense for the perfectly telling image, and her humor is so biting and smart it was almost a surprise, at the end of this engrossing book, to realize how thoroughly she had broken my heart.”—Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You, on Eat Only When You’re Hungry

“Hunter’s magical prose is the sort of thing that might happen if George Saunders and Gertrude Stein co-edited Raymond Carver. The stories vary wildly in pace and procedure, but each has its own visceral language that goes straight to the gut.”—Nylon on Don’t Kiss Me

“Mesmerizing . . . visceral . . . exquisite. Hunter’s portraits are heartbreaking. She cares about characters we don’t want to think about, issues we would rather not face. These are not lovable characters; they make you sad and sometimes sick . . . They kind of make you feel like your heart could kick the windows out.”—Chicago Tribune on Don’t Kiss Me

“These 26 stories, deeply internalized in neurotic lyricism, are hilarious and fully realized portraits of the disavowed . . . And in the uproarious title story, a woman obsesses over a female coworker she envies and despises. Miranda July and George Saunders come to mind, but Hunter’s crass yet tender characters are unprecedented, relating fart jokes and impossible sentiment in stylized prose that mirrors their threadbare souls and ineffectual optimism.”—Jonathan Fullmer, Booklist on Don’t Kiss Me

“Lindsay Hunter is a dazzling talent, and with Ugly Girls she has written what will surely go down as a new American classic. Every character is complex, every scene is dense as a bullet, and every sentence pulses with electricity. Magnificent.”—Christina Henriquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans, on Ugly Girls 

“I am in awe of Lindsay Hunter. Her debut novel is a canny examination of American girlhood under pressure – gritty, terrifying, and funny as hell. As Perry and Baby Girl, bound together by a friendship that is at once tender and toxic, hurtle through their world of trailer parks and stolen cars and lies, the dangerous secrets they uncover are matched only by the darkness simmering within. Ugly Girls is spiky, electric, unforgettable.”—Laura van den Berg, author of The Isle of Youth, on Ugly Girls