It Girls and E-girls: On Madeline Cash’s 'Earth Angel'

“I’M A LUTHERAN and an American and a hostage, perennially updating like a smartphone, barreling forward into the profound depths of the universe.” If there is a thesis of Madeline Cash’s debut story collection, Earth Angel (2023), it’s this line at the end of the collection’s fifth story. The statement captures the allure of Cash’s writing—cheeky and very online in the manner of a twentysomething, but more mature than you would expect. The stories in Earth Angel do, in fact, barrel toward the profound. But first and foremost—they’re very fucking fun.