´Fiercely independent, all of Evans´s characters struggle for a place in a world intent of fencing them out.´ - New York Times Book Review The extraordinary debut short story collection from Danielle Evans, one of the United States´ foremost literary talents, is published in the UK for the first time. A college student´s unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront her feelings of resentment toward her more privileged classmates. A father´s misguided attempt to rescue a gift for his adult daughter magnifies all he doesn´t know about her. And two teenage girls´ flirt with adulthood leads to disastrous consequences. Based in a world where inequality is reality, but where the shifting terrain of adolescence and family are the most complicating forces, Evans´ characters are wry, wise and utterly original. Striking in their emotional immediacy, the electrifying, prize-winning stories in Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self offer a fresh perspective on race and class in contemporary America. ´Danielle Evans is funny as hell´ - Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine ´Knife-sharp wit and tender but unflinching eye´ - V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage