"Cris Mazza takes no prisoners–and we wouldn't want it any other way. Powerful, provocative, this novel is a complex blend of first-person narrative, journal entries, letters, newspaper articles, and the richly imagined life-of-another, all steered by a fully conscious narrator who interrogates her past, the nature of memory, desire, social conscience, jealousy, responsibility, regret. The result is a compelling read that pulls us backwards and forwards through time, causing us to reconsider everything we thought we knew about sexual politics and oppression. "Various Men Who Knew Us As Girls" will make you uneasy, in all the best ways of fiction."
–Rilla Askew, author of "Kind of Kin"
"Cris Mazza has interwoven the stories of three contemporary women–one tempted, one involved, and one enslaved–in a fiercely honest novel about the continuum from flirtation to abuse. The story is feminist in the best sense. It wipes aside the pieties around the subject of harassment to probe the multiple realities of desire."
–Janet Burroway
"It's not just the title that's provocative. The genius of Cris Mazza is to overturn every applecart she can reach. This is one of her finest moments."
–Luis Alberto Urrea, author of "The Devil's Highway" and "Into the Beautiful North"
