Save Me, Stranger, Erika Krouse
Save Me, Stranger, Erika Krouse
List: $22.99 | Sale: $16.09
Club: $11.49

Save Me, Stranger
Stories

Author: Erika Krouse

Narrator: Adam Ewer, Blair Baker

Unabridged: 7 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/21/2025

Synopsis

From EDGAR-AWARD WINNING author Erika Krouse, a VISCERAL, DAZZLING collection of stories set across the globe about characters desperate for salvation

“Comparative audiobook newbies Baker and Ewer already know how to aurally enhance Krouse’s marvelously provocative fiction debut.”—Booklist (Starred Review)

“Far-ranging and visionary collection...A dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise.” —ADAM JOHNSON

“Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables—supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.” —LOUISE ERDRICH

Erika Krouse's debut memoir, Tell Me Everything, was hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “lyrical, jarring, propulsive,” and the Washington Post as “mesmerizing on every page.” Now, with an electrifying new collection of stories, Save Me, Stranger, she further cements her reputation as an essential voice.

From the coldest town on earth to a sex shop in Bangkok to a haunted bed-and-breakfast in the Rockies, we meet characters at hinge moments. A runaway fights for her future while driving an ice-cream truck in gang territory; a cleaning woman investigates the teenager who died in her stead; a terminal patient in Alaska discovers new life in helping others die. This collection explores the borderlands between humor and hurt, community and self, and hope and despair, redefining what it means to survive.

Scalpel-sharp, unsparingly funny, and achingly wise, Krouse's expansive stories build to unforgettable emotional catharses, as these men and women must decide how far they are willing to go to save one another—and themselves.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

About Erika Krouse

Erika Krouse is the author of the memoir Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation, winner of the Edgar Award, the Colorado Book Award, and the Housatonic Book Award; the story collections Save Me, Stranger and Come Up and See Me Sometime, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Paterson Fiction Prize; and the novel Contenders, a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Krouse's fiction has been published in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Ploughshares, One Story, and more. She teaches creative writing at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop and lives in Colorado.

About Blair Baker

Blair Baker is a queer, non-binary actor living in New York City. They began audiobook narration in 2022 and has since recorded around 20 works. Blair has been a finalist for the Golden Crown Literary Society Goldie awards two years in a row. They are a proud alum of the Macmillan new narrators program and Save Me, Stranger by Erica Krause (a Macmillan Audio production) received a rare starred audiobook review from Booklist. They voiced Sid in Previa: A Tech Heist, a podcast produced by Audible that won the 2024 Ambie Award for Best Fiction Podcast. Blair loves to narrate joyful queer romances, quirky sci-fi adventures, and literary fiction. Their narration style is grounded and honest, and their alto voice provides a warm and witty vibe to the stories they tell.

Reviews

Goodreads review by emma on May 01, 2025

how is this literally a rachel cusk cover... anyway. normally i write a mini-review for every short story when i read collections, but i just wrote the same thing for every one. here is that thing: these are all interesting, or about interesting topics, but my appreciation ends there. without exception......more

Goodreads review by Natasha on October 24, 2024

This is a collection of brilliantly written, diverse and authentic short stories that kept my attention and was hard to put down. Some of the stories are disturbing, most of them are heartbreaking, but nonetheless beautiful in its own way.......more

Goodreads review by Tori on November 10, 2024

thank you to the publisher for my ARC! I’m not usually a huge reader of short stories; however, these stories really had a way of capturing both the beautiful and ugly parts of humanity......more

Goodreads review by Nanako on March 24, 2025

Shortly after the pandemic, I joined Stitch, a social group for people over 50 years old. I had no idea what to expect but as relative newcomer to Seattle from Colorado, I thought Stitch would be a safe way to meet people. They put me through a clever verification process. Only a few weeks after I j......more

Goodreads review by Chada on February 23, 2025

I tore through this book in one evening, could not put it down! A collection of 12 short stories, each one unique, interesting, unpredictable, unsettling, devastating and beautiful in its own way. The only common thread is, in each story, someone is being saved by a stranger. I found it absolutely r......more

Quotes

“Fierce and unforgettable…These no-holds-barred stories often feature young women in trouble, sometimes of their own making but more frequently not…While danger lurks around the corner for all of Krouse's characters, sometimes compassion saves the day."
—Booklist (starred review)

“Krouse is gifted at capturing her characters’ dueling frustrations, needs, and fears. A smart set of globetrotting, emotionally gripping stories.”
—Kirkus (starred review)

“Affecting…Poignant…[Krouse] makes the thrill of new beginnings palpable.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Save Me, Stranger is a book of parables—supernal and sinister. Disturbing but comforting. Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.”
—Louise Erdrich, author of The Sentence and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award

“In this far-ranging and visionary collection, Krouse extends the reach of what stories can do, delivering a dozen little masterpieces of heart and longing and surprise. Save Me, Stranger is at once a treatise on tender moments and a symphony of storytelling.”
—Adam Johnson, author of Fortune Smiles and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Story Prize

“I really enjoyed this book. Some of its remarkable power is that the stories alternate between embodying epiphanies and valedictions—sometimes a quick goodbye, but always with an authenticity that convinces the longer it lingers. They’ll stay in your mind.”
—Ann Beattie, author of Onlookers and winner of the PEN/Malamud Award

“It is always a thrill to encounter a new and wildly capable imagination. Each story here is fully-realized and also a portal into a new landscape, and I read with appetite, marveling at Krouse’s range and storytelling chops.”
—Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade and winner of the Alex Award

“The protagonists at the heart of this collection seem to hang, fingers clinging, on a high precipice, while the reader stands above in judgment and care, both at once. In our lonesome, suspicious times, Save Me, Stranger made me feel that there’s hope yet for our wretched souls. I’ll be thinking about these stories for a long time.”
—Vauhini Vara, author of This is Salvaged and a Pulitzer Prize finalist

Awards

  • NPR Best Book of the Year
Add to Cart
Add to Wish List