Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It

A love-struck young ranch hand, an aging Argentine lover, a trusted confidante who isn’t a friend and two hitchhikers named Bonnie and Clyde.

Caught between opposing forces—fidelity and desire, impulse and security, innocence and experience—Meloy’s unforgettable characters have each reached a fork in the road. But what kind of fool wants it only one way?

These eleven stories are funny, sly and sparkling with energy. Both ways is the only way I want it is a joyous read.

Praise for Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It:

‘Maile Meloy is a true and rare find—a natural.’

Richard Ford

‘Maile Meloy writes with eerie clarity about the way human beings lust for the agents of their own undoing. Beautiful, terrifying writing.’

Joanna Murray-Smith

‘Don’t let the easy accessibility of Maile Meloy’s writing fool you: she’s capable of witchcraft…These 11 stories are quick, powerful jabs, startling in their economy; you’re propelled toward each ending, certain she won’t be able to wrap it up in one more page, and you’re proved wrong every time.’

Time

‘Meloy is such a talented and unpredictable writer that I’m officially joining her fan club; whatever she writes next, I’ll gladly read it.’

Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times Book Review

‘Maile Meloy cracks at our nagging desire to have it all (the answers, the romance, the payout, and in one case, the late grandmother come back to life) in eleven tightly written, remarkably fluid narratives.’

Elle