Where I End

Sophie White

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Where I End won the Shirley Jackson Award. At night, my mother creaks. The house creaks along with her. Sometimes in the morning we find her in places. We never see her move. We just come upon her. Aoileann is cursed. She has no friends, never gone to school. She has never left this windswept craggy isle off the coast of Ireland. Her mother is cursed: a silent wreck Aoileann calls the "bed-thing." Alongside her grandmother, Aoileann's days are an endless monotony of feeding, changing, and caring for the bed-thing. Their island seems cursed, whispering secrets only Aoileann hears. Then Rachel, a vivacious artist from the mainland, arrives with her colicky newborn. Rachel arouses yearnings Aoileann cannot fully comprehend. Soon, the unfolding of her mother's secret tragedy and Aoileann's pursuit of her own dark desires are both destined to unleash a maelstrom upon all three of their lives.