Chloe Caldwell

Disarmingly frank essays on sexuality, celebrity, TJ Maxx, acne, off-brand chocolate, almost-little-sisters, Craigslist, wanting to write, and the eternal what-should-I-do-with-my-life.

I'll Tell You in Person

'A beautiful read / a perfect primer for an explosive lesbian affair / an essential truth' Lena Dunham 'I have meditated repeatedly on what it was about Finn that had me so dismantled.' A young woman moves from the countryside to the city.Inexplicably, inexorably and immediately, she falls in love with another woman for the first time in her life.Finn is nineteen years older than her, wears men's clothes, has a cocky smirk of a smile - and a long-term girlfriend.With precision, wit and tenderness, Women charts the frenzy and the fall out of love.

Women

A searching, galvanizing memoir about blood and love: how learning more about her period, PMS, PMDD, and the effects of hormones on moods transformed her relationships—to a new partner, to family, to non-blood kin, and to her own body—from the beloved essayist and author of Women. Chloe Caldwell's period has often felt inconvenient or uncomfortable or even painful, but it's only once she’s in her thirties, as she's falling in love with Tony, a musician and single dad, that its effects on her mood start to dominate her life. Spurred by the intensity and seriousness of her new relationship, she soon realizes that her outbursts of anxiety and rage match her hormonal cycle. Compelled to understand the truth of what's happening to her every month, Chloe documents attitudes toward menstruation among her peers and family, reads Reddit threads about PMS, goes on antidepressants, goes off antidepressants, goes on antidepressants again, attends a conference called Break the Cycle, and learns about premenstrual dysphoric disorder, PMDD, which helps her name what she’s been going through. For Chloe, healing isn’t just about finding the right diagnosis or a single cure. It means reflecting on other underlying patterns in her life: her feelings about her queer identity and writing persona in the context of a heterosexual relationship; how her parents’ divorce contributed to her issues with trust; and what it means to blend a family. The Red Zone is a funny, intimate, and revelatory memoir for anyone grappling with controversial medical diagnoses and labels of all kinds. It’s about coming to terms with the fact that, along with proper treatment, self-acceptance, self-compassion, and transcending shame are the ultimate keys to relief. It’s also about love: how challenging it can be, how it reveals your weaknesses and wounds, and how, if you allow it, it will push you to grow and change.

A Love Story

The Red Zone

a novella

Literary Nonfiction. LEGS GET LED ASTRAY is a provocative collection of essays that vividly rockets the reader through one young woman's life. Chloe Caldwell beautifully and bluntly escorts you through her childhood dreams, her first loves, her most unguarded sexual exploits, bookstore crushes, babysitting jobs, heartbroken wanderlust, and the suicide of a lost lover. Caldwell's writing remarkably explores the genre of personal nonfiction and has been featured in The Rumpus, The Faster Times, and Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, The Nervous Breakdown, and Everyday Genius. "Chloe Caldwell's LEGS GET LED ASTRAY is a scorching hot glitter box of youthful despair and dark delight. Tender and sharp, wide-eyed and searching, these essays have a reckless beauty that feels to me like magic."—Cheryl Strayed "Prepare to shed skin. Chloe Caldwell's essays will dare you to dissect your own life. Shot-through with sexuality and sass, her language will get up in you and turn you inside out in the best possible way."—Lidia Yuknavitch

Legs Get Led Astray

The New Age Camp

A searching, galvanizing memoir about blood and love: how learning more about her period, PMS, PMDD, and the effects of hormones on moods transformed her relationships—to a new partner, to family, to non-blood kin, and to her own body—from the beloved essayist and author of Women Chloe Caldwell’s period has often felt inconvenient, uncomfortable, or even painful. It’s only once she’s in her thirties, as she’s falling in love with Tony, a musician and single dad, that its effects on her mood start to dominate her life. Spurred by the intensity and seriousness of her new relationship, it strikes her: her outbursts of anxiety and rage match her hormonal cycle. Compelled to understand the truth of what’s happening to her, Chloe documents attitudes toward menstruation among her peers and family, reads Reddit threads about PMS, attends a conference called Break the Cycle, and learns about premenstrual dysphoric disorder, PMDD, which helps her name what she’s been going through. For Chloe, healing isn’t about finding a single cure. It means reflecting on underlying patterns in her life: her feelings about her queer identity and writing persona in the context of a heterosexual relationship; how her parents’ divorce contributed to her issues with trust; and what it means to blend a family. The Red Zone is a candid, revelatory memoir for anyone grappling with controversial medical diagnoses and labels of all kinds. It’s about coming to terms with the fact that—along with proper treatment—self-acceptance, self-compassion, and transcending shame are the ultimate keys to relief. It’s also about love: how challenging it can be, how it reveals your weaknesses and wounds, and how, if you allow it, it will push you to grow and change.

Chloe Caldwell

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