LONGLISTED FOR THE JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE 2022`With Teeth is a wonderfully sticky novel about motherhood, partnership, sex and love. Kristen Arnett lets her characters have the run of the place, and it`s delicious fun to watch them do, say, and think things they`ll regret` Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here`Sublimely weird, fluently paced, brazenly funny and gayer still` Naoise Dolan, New York Times`A darkly funny, brutally honest story about a woman undone by motherhood . . . With Teeth digs in deep and doesn`t let go. I truly loved it` Jennifer Weiner, bestselling author of Mrs Everything and That SummerIf she`s being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye peeled on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best - driving, cleaning, cooking, prodding him to finish projects for school - while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. As Samson grows from feral toddler to surly teenager, Sammie`s life begins to deteriorate into a mess of unruly behaviour, and her struggle to create a picture-perfect queer family unravels. When her son`s hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess - and the possibility that it will never be clean again.Blending the warmth and wit of Arnett`s breakout hit, Mostly Dead Things, with a candid take on queer family dynamics, With Teeth is a thought-provoking portrait of the delicate fabric of family - and the many ways it can be torn apart.