BOOK OF THE WEEK
Grace Spulak鈥檚 debut collection named one of the most anticipated books of 2026 by Chicago Review of Books
Characters in each of the 12 stories in Grace Spulak鈥檚 debut collection 鈥淢agdalena Is Brighter Than You Think鈥� are dealing with life challenges 鈥� loss of a family member, coming of age, gender, queerness, violence and poverty.
In one story, 鈥淓xtreme Measures,鈥� a family is broken emotionally and financially by the death of the husband/father in a road accident during a snowstorm.
The mom, Reyna, must drive an hour, from Reserve to Springerville, Arizona, to hold down a waitress job in a diner; Reyna fears she may be fired soon, through no fault of her own.
Meanwhile, at home, she can鈥檛 seem to communicate with her two school-age children, son Douglas and daughter Sidney.
Reyna and Douglas argue over a question he poses based on a class report: 鈥淒o you think the Gila monster lives here?鈥�
Reyna says no. But Sidney defends Douglas for asking the question.
It鈥檚 a window into the family鈥檚 struggles. Worried about family bills, Reyna cancels their home internet service.
At a family meal, Douglas is building strange constructions out of aluminum foil and leaves them on the kitchen table.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e traps. For the Gila monster,鈥� Douglas declares. Sidney thinks it鈥檚 possible a Gila monster could be in their neighborhood.
That leads to a scene in which Reyna and Sidney angrily fight, leaving the reader thinking that Sidney may have died in a fall, but Reyna is in denial.
In the title story, the unnamed narrator is a young girl, a preteen. She and her sister Cherise are living with their grandmother, Jessie, who is also a foster parent. Apparently Grandma signed up for foster care strictly for the money, the narrator surmises.
At first Grandmother鈥檚 crew crowds together in a fifth-wheel trailer. Then they move into 鈥渁 single-wide with a dusty air-conditioning unit that never worked.鈥�
The narrator says her brother Darryl talks to her 鈥渆ven though he was dead. Sometimes he had a bullet hole through the front of his forehead, and other times he didn鈥檛. I don鈥檛 know why it was that way, and I never really wanted to ask him, seeing as how it鈥檇 probably make him feel bad or hurt his feelings on account of everything that happened to him.鈥�
The story goes back in time when the siblings鈥� father killed their mother and Darryl. Dad is waiting for the sheriff鈥檚 deputies to show up, apparently to turn himself in.
More violence ensues.
Near the end of the story the narrator claims she was pregnant for 2陆 months. Then, suddenly while sitting in the dirt, the baby 鈥渙r whatever you want to call it came out of me and floated around in the air, right next to my head.鈥�
The baby told the narrator it wasn鈥檛 being born.
These seem to be hallucinations.
Most of the 12 stories are set in New Mexico. The book鈥檚 final story, 鈥淢ore Than Bright,鈥� is set in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The narrator, Miranda, is a veterinary student. Not watching the road while driving, her car slams into an object.
Miranda thinks she hit a deer.
鈥淭he thing she struck was still alive. It pawed the asphalt. It lowered its head and shook its horns from side to side. Not meanly, only like it was confused, as shaken up as Miranda,鈥� Spulak writes.
Miranda figured out the animal was a yak, not a deer.
Soon, the yak is talking to her. 鈥淵ou were looking for an accident,鈥� the yak tells Miranda. The yak only talks to her. Is Miranda hallucinating?
The reader sees Miranda鈥檚 troubles 鈥� the shooting death of her sister, her theft of medical supplies from the school, her affair with a married veterinary school professor.
The tale concludes with Miranda finding the still-alive yak on the side of the road and deciding to save it by performing surgery to remove a bullet lodged inside the animal.
鈥淪he began the suture, closing herself in, closing all the cuts, first rubbery skin, then fat, then organ membrane. She expected the darkness to deepen, but the more she sewed, the more things inside the yak began to hum with a light of their own. It was more than bright enough for her to see by.鈥�
Could it be鈥� she sewed herself inside the yak?
鈥淢agdalena Is Brighter Than You Think: Stories鈥� was named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2026 by the Chicago Review of Books. Spulak also won the Autumn House Press鈥� 2025 Rising Writer Prize.
Grace Spulak, a resident of Bosque Farms, received a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from Creighton University, a Master of Fine Arts from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers and a Juris Doctor from Harvard.
She works for the National Center for State Courts to improve access to justice largely for low-income people.
