"Cut and Thirst" by Margaret Atwood is a delightful and engaging short story that follows three older ladies with PhDs as they plot to murder eight or nine men who wronged their friend, Fern. The story starts in medias res, throwing the reader into the action, and gradually reveals the what, the why, and the who behind the plot.

I particularly enjoyed the fun and engaging narrative, which reminded me of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, albeit with a twist - here, the old ladies are plotting a murder, not solving one. Atwood's storytelling is filled with a touch of Shakespearean references and academia critiques, adding depth to the plot and characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this story.

One can never just read a Margaret Atwood book/story and expect to stay comfortable with the premise. In this short story, she positions a group of friends — women — plotting a murder. The very act of discussing murder (& the peek we get inside the minds of these characters) suffices as rebellion, after all, women at leisure and murder are an antithesis to society's expectations of them.

The conversation is sassy, layered, and purposeful, as one would expect in a world Atwood writes up, But I do wish we stayed in this world for a bit longer. This wasn't enough time for us to appreciate the "fraught, hysterical things" being imagined.

My favourite quote, "No wonder people were afraid of old women, back in the witch-barbecue days. They've spent a lifetime festering,"

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy!

What a great short story! As soon as I saw Margaret Atwood's name I knew I had to read it! I was hooked within the first page. My only complaint is that I wish it was longer as I would have loved to read more about these amazing group of friends. Nevertheless, "Cut and Thirst" was smart and witty and cant wait for more from Mrs. Atwood in the future.

Women of a certain age have always made men a little nervous….

….and rightly so, it would seem. In this case, we have three women friends, retired academics, who meet weekly to nibble on unusual cheeses, consume their libation of choice, and plot murder. Specifically, the murder of 8 (or maybe 9, they need to check their list) men who years ago wronged their friend Fern. Fern, it would seem, is experiencing declining health, and her friends Myrna, Leonie and Chrissy are convinced that it is happening in large part because of the actions that this group of literary men took to attack Fern’s professional reputation. These men, they reason, need to pay, and who would suspect a group of old(er) women of being behind their deaths? How to do it, who should be first to go, and other considerations are mulled over, until finally it is time to just get it done. Murder, however, is a tricky business.
The plot of Cut and Thirst is lots of fun, and the characters….oh my! A treat of a story to read, and while I found that the end just sort of fizzled out it was such an enjoyable romp until that point that I would highly recommend the story to fans of Margaret Atwood and to anyone who is (or who knows) a woman who has dealt with the many stages of life and has reached the point where she knows what needs to be done and is perfectly content to be the one to do it. Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for granting me access to this story, and to Margaret Atwood for being the amazing writer that she is.

This is a short story about three women planning murders.

I liked the subject of the story, but I found that it could have been exploited better. I know that it was a short story and that there are limits to what you can write in such a short time, but maybe this book would have been better as a longer novel.

Overall, I still enjoyed it, it’s a good story to read between books to change your mind from the last one read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc of this story.

You just can't really go wrong with Margaret Atwood. When "Cut and Thirst" opens, three women are sitting in a backyard, plotting the best way to commit a series of murders. Poison? Defenestration? And just how far can they convince themselves to go...?

After half a moment to orient myself in this story, it was a lot of fun. The women's once-maligned friend Fern becomes almost beyond the point, but we eventually see what real revenge—if you're of a certain bent—might look like. It makes for a playful story, but better than that, it's one of platonic friendship that has stood the test of time. Lovely to see these women banding together, not just meeting for gossip and nefarious planning but also making sure that Fern, who is no longer so agile as once she was, has a steady visitor list. (I'm thinking of a family member and that family member's friend—they had a weekly walking routine, and then when cancer came knocking they just adjusted things so that one drove the other to chemo and then they had lunch. It was a powerful thing to witness, and I'm getting similar energy from this short story.)

Perhaps if this were a novel, things would turn out differently at the end of the story...but it's an engaging read, especially if this is a sort of friendship you value.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

This short story begins very abruptly and therefore threw me off guard a little. Honestly, three ladies contemplating murder/avenging their fourth friend while taste-testing cheese was a story I didn't know I needed, but I am so glad I ended up reading it. This book makes me excited to finally try some more of Margaret Atwood's work, especially since The Handmaid's Tale has been sitting on my bookshelf for a while now.

I don’t read many short stories or even short story collections but I picked this up because I’ve read The Handmaids Tale and The Testaments and I thought it would be interesting to pick up a short story from the same author. I wanted to see how she handled a much shorter format instead of a book length work.

This is about a group of friends that are planning revenge on a group of men that conspired to ruin the life and career of a good friend of theirs.

To start with positives, I liked the writing. The planning session at the start of the story was fun to read. Watching them plan and discard options they were obviously not going to work was intriguing. Also watching the one revenge they did actually plan fall through was kind of funny (even if it did devolve into a poop joke.)

I just kind of wish this was longer. The arc that I read had 26 short pages and I think this was too much story to cram into that space. You know almost nothing about the characters and history of these women other than their names and that they know each other (and I think they worked together). It’s barely explained why the group of men decided to dog pile onto this one friend of theirs and it’s barely explained why the women want to take such drastic revenge on them. You’re thrown into the story in the middle of it happening and it’s a bit confusing at first. I would have liked to have more of a slow build up to what happened and gotten to know the different players better. The story also ends super abruptly. I found it mildly unsatisfying.


Keep in mind I’m not saying I didn’t like this. It was good. However I think it would have found a better home in a short story collection with a connected theme rather than being published in its own.


This is a very quick read though and entertaining enough. Recommend for short story fans and fans of the author in general.

An interesting short story. However, the first few pages were confusing due to minimal context and lots of dialogue. Once established, it flowed nicely and I enjoyed the story.

Thanks you NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've never read any of Atwood's work and so was keen to try this teaser. It was only 26 pages and was an engaging read.

Atwood writes superbly. I was caught up immediately in the plot these 3 long time mature friends were conjuring up over G&Ts and yummy cheeses. Fern, their great friend, was mistreated by a group of men a number of years ago. Fern is a well known writer and the men dissed her work. It felt very personal and very misogynistic. Her 3 friends seek to take vengeance upon these men.

But how?

Murder is a complicated business, they soon work out.

I enjoyed it. It's witty, well paced and demonstrates a lovely bond between the 4 women.

A fun short story from Margaret Atwood about three friends plotting to avenge their friend Fern for a wrong done years ago. Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy Meet weekly and begin a plan to get back at the men who ruined their friend’s career. The Wynham plan to possibly murder nine or 10 men, but eventually settle on Ex-Lax pot brownies as it means to make an uncomfortable night for one of the victims. The story was cute and a little bit funny.

Thanks to NetGalley, Margaret, Atwood, and Amazon original stories for a free copy of this short story.

This seemed like it would have been a really interesting and enjoyable story, but the writing style did not flow for me.

Cut and Thirst was such a cute little short story of 3 female friends working together to avenge a friend that was done wrong by her male colleagues.

The characters were females with PhD’s in literature; as such they used words and referenced works that I was unfamiliar with. However, it was not too difficult yet to track their intent behind their words. A great short story to read while waiting to get your oil changed or in the school pick-up line!

4/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for this ARC in exchange for an honest review..

Pros: I have read some of Margaret Atwood's most popular books, but I am interested in reading more of her works. This story reminded me a bit of Killers of a Certain age, which is a good thing! I tend to enjoy stories about groups of women who have been friends for ages . . . especially with some revenge thrown in. I also enjoyed the commentary on academia and publishing.

Cons: I was disappointed when this ended! I was ready to read a full book about the women meting out revenge.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story.

3.5 stars

I went in to this short story expecting a murder mystery type story. If that's what you are looking for, this is not it. I finished the story unclear what it was I had just read. After some thought, I believe I should have looked at more of Golden Girls-esque kind of vibe of a bunch of old, excuse me, older women fantasizing a revenge plot for their ill friend.

Based on other reviews, I think I tried to take this short story too seriously. It was a lot of words for a short story that didn't really seem to say much.

A 35 page short story...and I regret not DNF'ing it. The whole story just felt clunky and so pointless. It was mostly just musings of this group of older women who potentially had an interesting past but we don't get much infrmation on that. I am unsure if these characters come from a different story but I felt unfufilled and bored of the whole thing.

Cut and Thirst is the latest short story from Margaret Atwood. I really enjoyed the previous one released through Amazon Original Stories, My Evil Mother, so I jumped at the chance to read this one.

This is a story of 3 old(er) women academics and writers plotting a long-overdue revenge on behalf of their good friend. The targets are 9 men - some more deserving than others - who purposefully criticized and attacked her every literary work due to the jealousy of their little group's leader. Of course, the obvious course of action is murder, right? Right.

The story is both thought-provoking and hilarious as the three find themselves debating the evolution of mysoginy, drinking G&Ts and misquoting Shakespeare. This is a very unlikely plot that I loved exploring and the ending was incredibly well suited. There's probably a lesson in there, but I was too busy having fun imagining the three making revenge brownies and planning to seduce people into eating them.

If you enjoy short stories as a format and wonder what old(er) ladies do after retirement with their knowledge of classic literature, feminism and French revolution, give this one a go!

✨ Disclaimer ✨ I received a free copy of this book and this is my honest review.

4/5 ⭐️
First read from Margaret Atwood (I know, I must be the last person on earth that hadn’t read her before!). I really enjoyed this short story, I can’t wait to read more of her books next! Thank you NetGalley fir this ARC

I adore the work of Margaret Atwood, and 'Cut and Thirst' is no exception. It is clever, witty, and to the point- it reminds me of a short version of 'A Man Called Ove', in the sense that they set out to accomplish an irreversible task, but something keeps coming up or getting in the way. While 3 older women ponder the difficulty that murderers face, they bond together over their unified fervor and protection of one of their own. Atwood's quip and writing style is always a pleasure to enjoy.