Oddbody Stories

“This is weird girl fiction at its finest.” —Lucy Rose

“Compassionate, gross, deeply compelling. A must-read.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Striking, visceral, and brutally honest, Rose Keating’s Oddbody is a captivating short story collection that delves into the weirdness of bodies and of existence itself through the voices of social outsiders and outcasts.

In her debut collection, Rose Keating takes you on a bold journey through the intricacies of sex, shame, and womanhood. With ten enchanting short stories, she crafts an emotional masterpiece that challenges us to reflect on the movement and needs of our bodies. Strange yet utterly mesmerizing, Oddbody is a provocative exploration that feels both surprising and sincerely authentic.

In “Oddbody,” a woman finds herself navigating a codependent relationship with a ghost, while “Squirm” portrays a daughter tending to her father as he devours himself from the inside out. “Pineapple” introduces us to a woman who opts to have feather wings surgically attached to her back. In “Eggshells,” a waitress gives birth to an egg during her breakfast shift. Each narrative in this collection is immersive, bizarre, and deeply empathetic, shining a light on women who dare to defy societal norms and invite you to question the conventions and milestones that determine success.

Rose Keating is a writer from Waterford, Ireland. She received an MA in creative writing prose fiction at UEA, where she was a recipient of the Malcolm Bradbury Scholarship and the Curtis Brown Prize for best dissertation. She is a winner of the Marian Keyes Young Writer Award, the Sean Dunne Young Writers Award, the Hot Press Write Here Write Now Prize, and the Ted and Mary O’Regan Arts Bursary. She has been published in Apex Magazine, Hot Press Magazine, Banshee Journal, and Southword Journal. In 2022, she received an Agility Award from the Irish Arts Council to fund the completion of her debut short story collection.