"Perhaps there'll be a time when we can speak without them cutting our tongues."

An ode to the indomitable feminine spirit, this collection of stories artfully exhibits the unspoken struggles of women. A lampmaker faces dim truths as she ages. An ex-mermaid weaves her forgotten tale into the fabric of an underwater circus. A wife is pushed over the edge when she's sent to a rehabilitation center at the bottom of a dirt pit.

By blending the fantastical with the familiar, Vu celebrates the extraordinary in the ordinary. To her, invisibility is a canvas for creativity, a playground for whimsy, and a stage for the surreal.

With twelve peculiar pieces, Shut Me Up in Prose illuminates how, in the shadows of society, women stand ever resilient in the face of those who wish to silence them.