In Karen Hartman's "juicyfruit tragedy," two young sisters discover new appetites within the walls of their father's garden. Gum explores the need to tame nature in a fictional fundamental country where the title candy is contraband and every desire has its price. "A brief, intense, beguiling, sensual, witty, impassioned, deeply moving and brightly burnished gem"—San Francisco Examiner. Also includes The Mother of Modern Censorship.

Karen Hartman is the author of Girl Under Grain, Troy Women and Alice: Tales of a Curious Girl. She is a native of San Diego who lives in Brooklyn and is currently the playwright-in-residence at Princeton University.