The Hollis Chapman Show: Precious Ugly, Domestic Violence and the Resilience of Girls

The Hollis Chapman Show: Precious Ugly and Rae Cline

So much gratitude for Hollis Chapman and our conversation about Precious Ugly, craft, domestic violence awareness and the resilience of children surviving terrible circumstances.

Hollis asked about the impetus behind the title, Precious Ugly, and it brought me back to those moments as a teenager when life could be so difficult simply by being a teenager. When a teenager is surviving additional difficulties such as domestic violence, peer bullying, poverty and homelessness, it can feel like the world is against them. And isn’t it a miracle when children not only survive but survive with tenacity, strength and resilience? My experiences taught me to witness life with an appreciation of the chiaroscuro, the joyous and the difficult, the precious and the ugly, the light, the dark and the shadows that form depth.

If you or someone you know are surviving domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or text “BEGIN” to 88788. Talk with someone who will make your safety their number one priority and who can help you make a plan on your terms to enact when you decide you are ready.

“Vivid…harrowing…lyrical, meticulous prose…bold, courageous”

—Matt Bondurant, author of North Country,

Oleander City

Precious Ugly is a searing debut novel for readers of Bastard Out of Carolina and Demon Copperhead, a story about survival, set in the Reagan era—Clementine is a thirteen-year-old girl living in a van with her father, a preacher and cult leader, on a campsite along the river. She must decide if the miracle he promises will save her or destroy her.

Rae Cline is the author of the story collection The Indefinite State of Imaginary Morals. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, North American Review and StoryQuarterly and more. She is the founding editor of Eckleburg and lives in New York City. Precious Ugly, her debut novel, was a finalist for the Curt Johnson Prose Award for Fiction and shortlisted for Craft’s First Chapters Award. Read more at raecline.com.