Books
FOUNDATIONS
Description:
Three women, three eras, one Dallas house. In the 1950s, restless heiress Bunny tries to fill her loneliness with extravagant décor before falling in with mysterious seekers. Decades later, aging film star Jessica retreats from Hollywood only to confront her past. In the present day, influencer-turned-house-flipper Amanda discovers the house’s renovation may be her first authentic choice. A steely-eyed feminist, multi-generational novel, Foundations follows three women whose parallel struggles reflect the evolving fight for women's rights in the American South—each searching for meaning within the same walls.
Blurbs:
"I devoured the hell out of this wonderful novel about three different women in the same house across the decades, dealing with unhappiness and doubt in their own, often wild ways. I loved the careful, compassionate way Stewart crafted these characters - it drew me in completely to their stories."
— Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You
"Was loneliness an emergency?" Abigail Stewart asks in this novel, rich in atmosphere and detail... As Stewart explores repetitions and recurrences over time, you keenly care about these characters who are linked by one particular house that may or may not be able to contain their desires and their dreams." — Deborah Shapiro, author of Consolation
ASSEMBLAGE
Description:
Assemblage explores small town Southern myths, pregnancy as body horror, humans who exist on the periphery, and the place of art in modern society. Although the stories are grounded in reality, each one possesses a spectral echo of the surreal.
Blurbs:
“A freewheeling imagination powers this collection, fully embracing the wild possibilities that grow from the stories’ brilliant premises. So many of these characters and their predicaments will live forever in my mind. What stole my heart on every page was Stewart’s command of language, paired with her unwavering attention to the details that illuminate and unravel both individuals and their relationships. There are innumerable wonders to unsettle and delight you in these pages." — Kate Finegan, author of Ablaze
"Abigail Stewart's writing is always surprising, twisting and turning each moment into something both completely other and perfectly real at the same time. I love these stories — each so perfectly assembled." — Chloe N. Clark, author of Collective Gravities and Escaping the Body
The Drowned Woman
Description:
Jeanette, a graduate student on scholarship and majoring in art history, arrives on the West Coast intending to be embraced by endless sunshine. She finds comfort in her studies and in her new apartment, drinking cheap Scotch and enjoying casual hookups.
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From her youth slowly emerges a many-veiled seductive dance that begins in the carnal and veers toward the reluctantly domestic, before ultimately descending, as they do, into the maternal. Fueled by anger alone, Jeanette plies her own orbit, determined to reclaim her life.
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With nods to the psychoanalytic works of Louise Bourgeois, The Drowned Woman explores the collision of the tender and the violent, and the brand of survival instincts unique to women artists.
Blurbs:
"The Drowned Woman is a powerful and tender exploration of a woman trapped in a life she did not choose—but also incidentally did. Abigail Stewart’s astute and wry novel incisively explores the ways a woman, and an artist, is always becoming. And how she might defy expectation and forge her own way." — Natalie Bakopoulos, author of Scorpionfish
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“The Drowned Woman has the gothic stylings of Barbara Comyns and the emotional register of a black-and-white film, fresh yet remarkably vintage. A stoic, dazzling debut."
— Tucker Leighty-Phillips, Hayden's Ferry Review