Attic

by Katherine Dunn · 2017

In her stark debut, Katherine Dunn draws from her own harrowing teenage years to tell the story of Kay, a young woman thrust into a cult‑like magazine‑selling outfit that robs its recruits of food, pay and freedom. When Kay tries to cash a customer's bad check, she is thrown into a Kansas City jail, where Dunn’s visceral, stream‑of‑consciousness prose captures the claustrophobic reality of the cell block. As alliances form and rivalries flare among the inmates, memories surface and identities shift, forcing Kay to confront the brutal loss of innocence and the raw humanity that persists behind steel bars. "Attic" is a powerful, unflinching portrait of a woman’s fight for dignity, exposing the dark underbelly of exploitation, gender expectations, and the justice system.