Drinking Coffee Elsewhere » (Unabridged)

Named one of the writers to watch in Book magazine's special "Newcomers" issue, ZZ Packer is quickly becoming known as a literary wunderkind with a talent for writing short fiction that goes a long way, as is evident in her debut collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.

Audie® Award Finalist!

A remarkable debut short-story collection by a fresh and captivating new voice in American literature.

Z.Z. Packer's first collection of short stories is rich with unexpected turns, indelible images, and penetrating insight that belies someone so young. Her stories plunge us into the worlds of people living on the edge and to the flashpoints that make or break them, that shape their worldviews forever. In The Stranger, a third-grade girl tries to find her place in the microcosm of summer camp in the larger world in 1981 during the height of the Atlanta child murders. The girl's bathroom at camp is the setting for a clash between an all-black and an all-white Brownie troop in Brownies. Two young women prod the boundaries of friendship and love in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.

A highly anticipated debut from an award-winning young writer.

Margot Livesey

What a wonderfully frank, fearless, funny writer ZZ Packer is and how splendidly Drinking Coffee Elsewhere displays those qualities.