The Great Grown-up Game of Make-Believe

“Beautifully strange and incredibly satisfying.” —Kristen ArnettWinner of the 2024 Autumn House Fiction Prize, these lyrical, haunting stories invite us to question the stories we tell ourselves and to imagine other paths—joyful, whimsical, even absurd—through the world. A wife finds herself literally shrinking in her house, day by day; a mother recalls the surreal day when her infant daughter survives a close encounter with a bear; and, inside her lover’s heart, a woman discovers a secret nightclub populated by all the women he’s loved and left. In the worlds, Woods conjures, childhood memories ripple through adult lives, and characters test the limits of their self-created realities. The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe urges us to contemplate how we can escape loneliness and heartbreak and live on our own terms. 

Winner of the 2024 Autumn House Fiction Prize, selected by Kristen Arnett, this striking short story collection by Lauren D. Woods applies a poignant and fantastical lens to adulthood. In these lyrical, haunting stories, growing up promises freedom but also brings obligation, loss, and pressure to conform. 

A wife finds herself literally shrinking in her house, day by day; a mother recalls the surreal day when her infant daughter survives a close encounter with a bear; and, inside her lover’s heart, a woman discovers a secret nightclub populated by all the women he’s loved and left. In the worlds Woods conjures, childhood memories ripple through adult lives, and characters test the limits of their self-created realities. 

The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe asks how we can escape loneliness and heartbreak and live on our own terms. In these stories, Woods invites us to question our notions of identity and the stories we tell ourselves to navigate everyday life, and to imagine other paths—joyful, whimsical, even absurd—through the world.