cover image Where I End

Where I End

Sophie White. Erewhon, $27 (232p) ISBN 978-1-64566-185-6

White (The Snag List) brings horror to the cliffs of the Irish islands in this eerily atmospheric outing. Bitter and isolated Aoileann lives as an accursed outcast from the other residents of her native island. In her rotting family home, she and her grandmother, Móraí, care for her bed-bound and speechless mother, whom Aoileann has resented for most of her life. When not attending to her mother, Aoileann weathers the cruelty and violence of her neighbors. Meanwhile, unaware of the island’s culture or history, mainlander Rachel comes to town with her newborn son for a monthlong artist residency. With their arrival, Aoileann makes her first ever friend—and drags up from the depths an evil that the entire island is afraid of. White uses the costal landscape and decaying village to create a palpable sense of isolation and dread. Indeed, the initial air of anxious revulsion is so powerful that the final revelation about the island’s secrets doesn’t feel like a big enough payoff. Still, this brutal tale has plenty to entertain fans of folk and body horror. (Sept.)