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Fresh Girls
Praised for her remarkable debut, Diary of a Street Kid , Evelyn Lau continues to mesmerize readers with Fresh Girls and Other Stories , her first collection of short fiction. Written with characteristic intensity and honesty, Lau’ s ten stories reveal the lonely underworld of “ fresh girls” trapped in prostitution, sadomasochism and domination, searching for a place where sex, obsession and love can meet. In “ Pleasure,” a woman finds “ strange relief” in being blindfolded and restrained into an enforced helplessness that releases her from all worldly responsibility. The prostitute of “ Marriage” asserts herself by toying with the idea of revealing her john’ s infidelity. The complexity of her characters is extraordinary and Lau’ s prose deftly explores the world where pleasure becomes pain and pain becomes addictive. Raw, sensitive, and never sentimental, Evelyn Lau shows us a world where turning tricks, donning leather and wielding a whip can become routine -- while love and tenderness seem almost obscene.
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 9, 1995
4 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Evelyn Lau
23 books78 followersEvelyn Lau was born July 2, 1971 in Vancouver, British Columbia to Chinese-Canadian parents, who intended for her to eventually become a doctor. Her parents' ambitions for her were wholly irreconcilable with her own; consequently, her home and school lives were desperately unhappy. In 1986 she ran away from her unbearable existence as a pariah in school and tyrannized daughter at home.
Lau began publishing poetry at the age of 12; her creative efforts helped her escape the pressure of home and school. In 1985, at age 14, Lau left home and spent the next several years living itinerantly in Vancouver as a homeless person, sleeping mainly in shelters, friends' homes and on the street and often supporting herself by selling her body to much older men.
Despite the chaos of her first two years' independence she submitted a great deal of poetry to journals and received some recognition. A diary she kept at the time was published in 1989 as Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid. The book was a critical and commercial success. Topics and individuals discussed in the book include some of Lau's various relationships with manipulative older men, the life and habits of a group of anarchists with whom she stayed immediately after leaving home, Lau's experiences with a couple from Boston who smuggled her into the United States, her abuse of various drugs, and her relationship with British Columbia's child support services. The film The Diary of Evelyn Lau (1993) starred Korean-Canadian actress Sandra Oh.
Lau had a well-publicized romantic relationship with University of Victoria creative writing professor and author W. P. Kinsella which led to the filing of a libel case against her[3]. She currently lives in Vancouver, where she freelances as a manuscript consultant in Simon Fraser University's Writing and Publishing Program. For invitations to poetry readings and festivals, the author may be contacted through Oolichan Books.
Lau began publishing poetry at the age of 12; her creative efforts helped her escape the pressure of home and school. In 1985, at age 14, Lau left home and spent the next several years living itinerantly in Vancouver as a homeless person, sleeping mainly in shelters, friends' homes and on the street and often supporting herself by selling her body to much older men.
Despite the chaos of her first two years' independence she submitted a great deal of poetry to journals and received some recognition. A diary she kept at the time was published in 1989 as Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid. The book was a critical and commercial success. Topics and individuals discussed in the book include some of Lau's various relationships with manipulative older men, the life and habits of a group of anarchists with whom she stayed immediately after leaving home, Lau's experiences with a couple from Boston who smuggled her into the United States, her abuse of various drugs, and her relationship with British Columbia's child support services. The film The Diary of Evelyn Lau (1993) starred Korean-Canadian actress Sandra Oh.
Lau had a well-publicized romantic relationship with University of Victoria creative writing professor and author W. P. Kinsella which led to the filing of a libel case against her[3]. She currently lives in Vancouver, where she freelances as a manuscript consultant in Simon Fraser University's Writing and Publishing Program. For invitations to poetry readings and festivals, the author may be contacted through Oolichan Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
November 26, 2022
domination, submission, marriage, loneliness, kink, fetish, pleasure, pain. very Gaitskill. very compelling short story collection !!!
June 9, 2022
This was a raw and gritty look at the sex trade. Lau is a very talented writer.
Subject matter may be triggering.
Subject matter may be triggering.
February 23, 2018
A raw, compelling, series of short stories about women from different economic standings, all living lives revolving around sex. It's compelling, and doesn't shy away from emotional, and dark themes. It's energetic and depressing at the same time, and the writing is sharp, and bitter, but refreshing.
May 20, 2016
Great collection of short stories from her life. My copy is autographed as I saw her read at my local library.
February 2, 2019
Raw, hard to read, but honest. Lau created an important perspective of sex work in this collection that all women should read.
June 13, 2025
Incredible book with some uncomfortably poignant moments. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars was that I wasn’t totally aware if each story was meant to be a completely new set of characters or if we were circling between three or four of the same ones.
Other than that this book is simply faultless I will be sure to reread it again which is very unlike me and thus glowing praise.
Other than that this book is simply faultless I will be sure to reread it again which is very unlike me and thus glowing praise.
Read
January 15, 2021Captions and lyrical flashes of images. This is how I felt after reading this very slim book.
There's a dinginess that doesn't resolve. A feeling of being, like the characters in the book, trapped in a replay of the same chase for experience, for sex, for something that turns into it's own repetition, its own moment or ending.
I didn't appreciate this book when I first bought it in 1995. I wanted excitement; dirty tales of lives lived much more interesting than my own. This is what the cover and the synopsis promises but what you get is fragments, glimpses, a watercolour that is not technically grand; the grammar leaves much to be desired; there isn't enough detail to fill out your imagination and your fantasies . In that way the cover and synopsis are deceiving.
Each incredibly short snapshot is of a different woman's mirage ( never an analysis or an examination) of their sexuality and appears to be as if written in the hazy moment of their experiencing.
I gave this book away after reading it three times and everyone I gave it to expected it to be racy and a memoir. It's actually artistic and very sad. In conveying the trudge of a driven habit of blind sexuality that always promises and never delivers and the acceptance of that, it works very well.
There's a dinginess that doesn't resolve. A feeling of being, like the characters in the book, trapped in a replay of the same chase for experience, for sex, for something that turns into it's own repetition, its own moment or ending.
I didn't appreciate this book when I first bought it in 1995. I wanted excitement; dirty tales of lives lived much more interesting than my own. This is what the cover and the synopsis promises but what you get is fragments, glimpses, a watercolour that is not technically grand; the grammar leaves much to be desired; there isn't enough detail to fill out your imagination and your fantasies . In that way the cover and synopsis are deceiving.
Each incredibly short snapshot is of a different woman's mirage ( never an analysis or an examination) of their sexuality and appears to be as if written in the hazy moment of their experiencing.
I gave this book away after reading it three times and everyone I gave it to expected it to be racy and a memoir. It's actually artistic and very sad. In conveying the trudge of a driven habit of blind sexuality that always promises and never delivers and the acceptance of that, it works very well.
May 5, 2021
I enjoyed reading this. My favourites have to be "Marriage" and "Glass", which are phenomenal stories that outline how it feels to be distant, to have a disconnect, to be longing for something and not have it. The way these stories are written - really inspirational for when I go into writing my own work that explores similar concepts.
The stories in this book are sad. Sexuality is one part of it, but it plays into the sadness. I don't know why people assume they're "erotic", as if sex work was always synonymous with erotica. Yet another misconception people have.
Those who go into this expecting erotica are sure to be disappointed and not the target audience anyways. For those who go into it keeping their minds open, they're exposed to a world full of loneliness, disconnect, of people searching for something from people who only want them as a commodity and an outlet for their shame.
I really enjoyed her prose. I can see why the author was famous with her debut work. Stunning series of stories.
The stories in this book are sad. Sexuality is one part of it, but it plays into the sadness. I don't know why people assume they're "erotic", as if sex work was always synonymous with erotica. Yet another misconception people have.
Those who go into this expecting erotica are sure to be disappointed and not the target audience anyways. For those who go into it keeping their minds open, they're exposed to a world full of loneliness, disconnect, of people searching for something from people who only want them as a commodity and an outlet for their shame.
I really enjoyed her prose. I can see why the author was famous with her debut work. Stunning series of stories.
June 23, 2008
I first read this book when it came out in paperback in 1995 and remember being impressed with its descent into the shadow side of its characters, although now it seems we see the dark but not the light so it isn't so clear what's shadow and what's not. The characters are prostitutes and doms, but sometimes bottoms, too. The humiliation and pain is described both lovingly and with cynical detachment. The lush and lyrical descriptions counter pointed by the rancor directed towards the other party of these power exchanges. These pieces, even the longer ones, work as sharply rendered slices of life, but not as fully realized stories.
February 8, 2019
Short stories about sex and sex work, power, loneliness, kink, survival. Lau's prose is unflinching and blunt. The collection reminded me of Roxane Gay's Difficult Women, though I liked Difficult Women more. The stories were hetero and cis and featured lots of rich/old/submissive white dudes.
2.5/5
2.5/5
January 12, 2011
A brutal, unglamorous look at sex and the business of kink. Lau is a fantastically underrated (and under-read) writer in the vein (no pun intended) of Gaitskill and Texier.
September 7, 2012
Her short, choppy stories show great talent and poetic lyricism in the sexuality they show. One of the best short story collections I have ever read.
May 6, 2016
Elegant writing, thoughtful look at dark topics, wished that the stories were longer.
December 4, 2020
Most of the stories felt a little too "I'm edgy" to me, but "Marriage" and "The Old Man" were really good.
November 15, 2021
Brief and biting stories that, depending on your tastes, are either incredibly sexy or incredibly disturbing and depressing. Lau is a strong writer who manages to make very raw tales of the rougher sides of sex into poetically crafted slices of life that examine desire, loneliness and what we give of ourselves in the pursuit of fulfilling our, or someone else's, fantasies.
July 26, 2021
Short stories filled with screeching, silent pain.
August 23, 2023
3.5. Beautifully written stories about dark and sometimes terrible things.
May 31, 2024
LOVE this style of writing but I wish there was a little more variety in the stories and some more diversity (ex. Not just sad old white guys)
August 8, 2024
True rating: 4.5 star.
I really enjoyed the author’s prose. Each short story compelling.
I really enjoyed the author’s prose. Each short story compelling.
August 27, 2024
A publishers wet dream walking in through the door and across the desk.
The prurient love of pornography.
The narcissism of excess and personal degradation.
The prurient love of pornography.
The narcissism of excess and personal degradation.
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October 3, 2024dark , rough , and poetic shorts that don’t overstay their welcome. anti-bedtime stories
October 22, 2025
kind of tired. but also kind of endearing because it seems like something i wrote… idk…
July 27, 2023
I first came in contact with Evelyn Lau through a 4th year English course at UofT, in which I read the short story Marriage from this collection. I thoroughly enjoyed it at the time and now. Lau’s collection of stories all centre on sex work and the emotional labour that goes into pleasure, specifically in the pleasures of men. Lau’s depiction of the darkness of sex work is met with a sadness and soreness that reads through at times as exhaustion. The women of Fresh Girls are emotionally exhausted from their labour, whether they are intentionally sex workers or in the in-between world of sugar babies and mistresses. Even a glimpse into the world of this labour could set someone off that path, although I don’t think Lau wants to defame sex work. Rather, I think she finds something poetic in the grime and glitters of sex, sexuality, and sex work. And that poetic viewpoint creates a collection of grimy sadness that doesn’t cry to you, but rather heaves a sigh and presses on.
October 28, 2021
Found this in a free library over a year ago and picked it up because it was set in Vancouver and the cover seemed intriguing. Started reading it last year as well but completely forgot about until recently 😂. I went back to skim over the stories I read last year so this review is partially based on what I recalled.
Tbh, I didn't really like this book, mainly because of the topics at hand. A depressing feeling lingers with each story and the description of scenes was unsettling at times. It was interesting to see different pieces of Vancouver being mentioned here an there -- mixed in with some dark lives and circumstances. The writing is descriptive yet raw and is noted to "dwell on the dark side of Eros -- a place where pleasure becomes pain and pain becomes addictive. ' Most of the stories felt like a pill that's hard to swallow washed down with a sad reality. While I did sympathize with some characters, this book overall was not my cup of tea.
***
SYNOPSIS :
Each short story dives into topics ranging from sex work, BDSM, abusive relationships, martial affairs, one sided love, broken lives, and other dark, depressing topics (trigger warning). With each story, there's generally a sense of longing for something/someone else as the characters themselves do what they need to do to scrape by. It is a mix between pleasure and pain.
Tbh, I didn't really like this book, mainly because of the topics at hand. A depressing feeling lingers with each story and the description of scenes was unsettling at times. It was interesting to see different pieces of Vancouver being mentioned here an there -- mixed in with some dark lives and circumstances. The writing is descriptive yet raw and is noted to "dwell on the dark side of Eros -- a place where pleasure becomes pain and pain becomes addictive. ' Most of the stories felt like a pill that's hard to swallow washed down with a sad reality. While I did sympathize with some characters, this book overall was not my cup of tea.
***
SYNOPSIS :
Each short story dives into topics ranging from sex work, BDSM, abusive relationships, martial affairs, one sided love, broken lives, and other dark, depressing topics (trigger warning). With each story, there's generally a sense of longing for something/someone else as the characters themselves do what they need to do to scrape by. It is a mix between pleasure and pain.
December 3, 2016
Lau is a great writer with an interesting personal story. Her language has all the rich simplicity of Hemingway and her characters and settings reminded me in some ways of Chekhov; the weight of the human experience and the bleakness of life.
Lau manages to write frankly about sex and drugs without ever being shocking for shock's sake or producing cheap, pulp erotica. Sex, drugs, whores and Johns all with literary merit. That isn't easy to pull off.
One complaint - despite this being a thin book with only a few stories, it can be a bit repetitive. Don't know if I care to read more of her but it was certainly worthwhile to sample something new.
Lau manages to write frankly about sex and drugs without ever being shocking for shock's sake or producing cheap, pulp erotica. Sex, drugs, whores and Johns all with literary merit. That isn't easy to pull off.
One complaint - despite this being a thin book with only a few stories, it can be a bit repetitive. Don't know if I care to read more of her but it was certainly worthwhile to sample something new.
December 16, 2008
On the one hand, this is familiar. This is every sex worker's worst, most brutal look at the business, the day when you believe everything they ever told you was wrong + pitiful+dirty about it, set out in Lau's elegant spare prose.
On the other, I'm getting so tired of Lau's apoliticized, humorless, bleak, egocentric, pretentious, victim-filled view of the universe...
I loved _Runaway_, but the brilliant precocious sad young street kid who wrote that diary became a woman who developed the *worst* parts of her gifts, in a sense.
On the other, I'm getting so tired of Lau's apoliticized, humorless, bleak, egocentric, pretentious, victim-filled view of the universe...
I loved _Runaway_, but the brilliant precocious sad young street kid who wrote that diary became a woman who developed the *worst* parts of her gifts, in a sense.
August 28, 2011
Wow this one is a real eye opener. Written by a former teenage runaway who was forced into the sex trade as a means of survival, this lady knows of what she writes. Written with equal parts poetry and hard reality Lau puts a face to those in the trade and those using their services. The subject matter is both heartbreaking and at times repulsive but always puts a face on members of society that are so often looked down upon and written off. These people are portrayed as human beings with feelings and often demons they are trying so hard to control or at least understand.
March 14, 2016
This was an interesting look into the lives of those that perform sex work. I have often thought that many simply consider it a job and are not looking for a client or anyone to fall in love with them and save them from that life, but this has shown the other side. It has also shown the economy of sex work and how things like turning 24 or 25 and seeing younger girls arriving can be devastating. After reading this book I am interested to read her autobiography based on her time on the street to see if I can glean any of her in the stories told in this book.
February 21, 2010
Alternately erotic and hopeless, this collection of stories is about the chains of lust as experienced by a young (Asian) prostitute in various aspects of her sexy and sordid career. I found it compelling, though some stories are clearly better than others. Sexual dominance and submission are prevalent themes--as well as loss and heartbreak and using sex to fill the void of an increasingly empty life.
July 13, 2015
These stories are a fascinating mix of the brutal and the tender. As stark as they are emotional, the words are like sharp glass that slices as the reader turns it over in their hands. Though by no means grotesque, Lau at no point flinches and these stories aren't for the faint of heart. They're hard, at the same time that they're melancholily beautiful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews