"In The Last Day, every story, every character, every woman builds up pressure, quietly, until they release in an explosion of love, of loss, of contemplation, of consternation. Kim Magowan, masterfully, captures these moments in the Golden Gate Park, in a diner serving Chinese food and donuts, in the windiest neighborhood in San Francisco, in the ghostly wet spot on an apartment's wall, in places familiar, and yet strange, revealing truths, revealing ourselves.
—Melissa Llanes Brownlee, author of Bitter Over Sweet, Kahi and Lua, and Hard Skin

“No one writes about couples as astutely and provocatively as Kim Magowan. Kim Magowan's stories cleave—in both senses of the word. Her characters seek attachment even as they separate. And oh how they separate. Magowan dramatizes break-ups (of couples and friends), affairs, marital ennui, aging, jealousy, yearning, and the general anxiety (and sometimes joy) of love like no one else.”
—Grant Faulkner, author of All the Comfort Sin Can Provide

“The Last Day is a collection that made me cackle. With deep insight and astonishing wit, Kim Magowan explores the strange and wondrous forms familial relationships can take, often as they dissipate, but also as new bonds form. Inventive in form and piercing in wisdom, these stories are sharp, funny, and sometimes petty in the most delicious way, but there’s warmth there too and a rich understanding of human nature.”
—Allison Wyss, author of Splendid Anatomies: Stories