‘One of the strangest and funniest and most surprising first novels I’ve ever read’ Karen Russell’MOSTLY DEAD THINGS packs messed-up families, scandalous love affairs, art, life, death and the great state of Florida into one delicious, darkly funny package. Kristen Arnett is a wickedly talented and a wholly original voice’ Jami Attenberg’There’s a gunslinger cool to every sentence . . . Kristen Arnett is the queen of Florida’ Alexander CheeOne morning, Jessa-Lynn Morton walks into the family taxidermy shop to find that her father has died by suicide, right there on one of the metal tables. Shocked and grieving, Jessa steps up to manage the failing business, while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make aggressively lewd art with the taxidermied animals. Her brother Milo withdraws, struggling to function. And Brynn, Milo’s wife, walks out without a word. As Jessa seeks out less-than-legal ways of generating income, her mother’s art escalates – and the Mortons reach a tipping point. For the first time, Jessa has no choice but to learn who these people truly are and ultimately how she fits alongside them. Kristen Arnett’s debut novel is a darkly funny, heart-wrenching, and eccentric look at loss and love.