Best Literary Fiction Of 21st Century Novels & Stories

Without any performative grace. I sat there and looked at him across the small table and tried to reconcile the man in front of me with the one who had grabbed my wrist in the dark; the one who had taken what he wanted without asking. Both men existed in the same space. That was the part I couldn't quite understand. "What kind of literature?" "Nineteenth century mostly," I said. I hesitated, then added, "about women stuck in impossible situations." I spoke without tone. Without emotion. He was silent for a while.