Granite Rock

In this stunning collection, women and girls grapple with socio-economic injustices: a ten-year-old American child witnesses coercion by the Corsican gendarme; deck hands spar in the West Indies; a woman finds community through climbing a granite rockface; and an ©migr© mother worries and awaits settlement under tightening immigration laws in contemporary Britain.

These complex and dynamic characters reveal how place shapes us, and the various ways we search for belonging in a world in flux.

Endorsements for Granite Rock

Atmospheric, intricately observed, these taut, and often tense stories explore identity and belonging in very different ways. Ordinary people's lives show us again and again that the line between safety and danger is very thin. These are short stories that have a long finish!

-Jackie Kay, poet, novelist and the former Makar (National Poet) of Scotland

At the heart of these beautiful stories is a deep search and struggle for belonging in a world full of systems that persist in separating, denigrating, and harming those who do not. Granite Rock does what all good literature does: it gives us the shocking privilege of experiencing lives vastly different from each other and, indeed, our own. We become better people because of it. This is a marvellous collection, and I am better for it.

-Sommer Schafer, author of Hope and The Women

In these elegant, finely wrought, and gripping stories, women of different ages and generations search for paths forward after personal loss and heartbreak, while grappling with the injustice of larger social and economic structures. Whether moving country, crewing boats, or setting off on intensive wilderness retreats, Rouverol's richly human, complex, and dynamic characters remind us of the challenges - and rewards - of taking risks with the way we live, think, and love.

-Barbara Barrow, Pushcart Prize nominee, and author of An Unclean Place and The Quelling

I've lived a dozen lives and traveled around the world while reading this book. A boat pitching into the wind, a tire blowout on a lonely road, a grip of hands on a safety rope: all the elements are at play here. And each time a human connection is made, it feels miraculous. Immersive and captivating, these stories build bonds between the most unlikely people and have them show up for each other in unexpected ways. A joyful, masterful book.

-Olga Zilberbourg, author of Like Water & Other Stories