The Call Is Coming from Inside the House

Essays

By: Allyson McOuat

Narrated by: Allyson McOuat

From Allyson McOuat, author of the popular 2020 New York Times Modern Love essay "The Ghost Was the Least of Our Problems," comes her debut essay collection

In a series of intimate and humorous dispatches, McOuat examines her identity as a queer woman, and as a mother, through the lens of the pop culture moments in the '80s and '90s that molded her identity. McOuat stirs the ingredients required to conjure an unsettled spirit: the horrors of pregnancy and motherhood, love and loss, the supernatural, kaleidoscopic sexuality, near-miss experiences, and the unexplained moments in life that leave you haunted.

Through her own life experiences, various tall tales, urban legends, analysis of horror and thriller films, and spine-chilling true crime incidents, McOuat uncovers how cultural gatekeeping has forced her, as a mother and queer femme woman, to persistently question her own reality. Through this charming and humorous exploration of what moments have made her who she is, McOuat demonstrates for listeners a way through by forgiving herself and exorcising her stubborn attachment to a phantom, heteronormative, nuclear family structure.

©2024 Allyson McOuat (P)2024 Tantor

Like eating ice cream! Entertaining, thought provoking and smart personal storytelling.

This is a brilliant storytelling. Allyson McQuot has produced a unique work of biographical essays that are so good they range from thoughtfully entertaining, frightening and enthralling to even a few essays I believe may become future feminist cannon. I could not stop listening. What’s even better is that McQuot recommends a playlist of music - for each essay there is an accompanying song or two on a matching Spotify playlist! What a unique and brilliant idea! This book is particularly fantastic if you identify as Queer/lesbian and were born in the 70s and early 80s.