Ottessa Moshfegh Books in Order

In Salem in 1851, drunken sailor McGlue is confined below deck after allegedly killing his closest friend. As sobriety returns, fragmented memories force him to confront what happened, while he resists the pain and responsibility recollection may bring.

Eileen Dunlop spends her days working at a juvenile prison and caring for an alcoholic father in coastal New England. A charismatic new counselor's friendship promises escape, but draws Eileen toward a disturbing and dangerous entanglement.

An affluent young New Yorker seeks relief from grief, alienation, and unhappy relationships by attempting a year of drug-assisted sleep. Her psychiatrist's reckless prescriptions enable a retreat that challenges the idea that privileged circumstances guarantee contentment.

An isolated widow finds a note describing a woman's murder, but no body, while walking her dog in the woods. Her obsessive attempt to invent suspects and motives blurs the boundaries between imagination, evidence, and memory.

Abused shepherd's son Marek lives in a medieval village where drought, famine, and a cruel lord test religious belief. His connection to a blind midwife and the ruling family draws him into a struggle over power.

These short stories follow unsettled people who long for intimacy, improvement, or escape while undermining themselves through insecurity and impulse. Grotesque encounters and dark humor reveal the uneasy relationship between self-deception, cruelty, vulnerability, and the desire for belonging.