Bitterhall
Helen McCloryPRAISE FOR HELEN McCLORY:
'She is a writer completely unafraid' - ALI SMITH
'Shiny dark licorice mind candy: nothing quite like them' — MARGARET ATWOOD (on Mayhem & Death)
'McClory is clearly one of the best new writers to have emerged in Scotland in the last few years' — HERALD
'Hauntingly delicious' – Sunday Post
From the prize-winning author of The Goldblum Vriations: a tale of desire, madness & the reality-constructing powers of books
In a darkening season in a northern city, Daniel, Órla & Tom's lives intersect through a peculiar flatshare & a stolen nineteenth-century diary written by a dashing gentleman who may not be entirely dead. An interwar-themed Hallowe'en party leads to a series of entanglements: a longed-for sexual encounter, a betrayal, & a reality-destroying moment of possession.
As the consequences unfurl, Bitterhall's narrative reveals the ways in which our subjectivity tampers with the notion of an objective reality, & delves into how we represent – & understand – our muddled, haunted selves.
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Helen McClory is the author of two story collections, On the Edges of Vision (Queen’s Ferry Press), a winner of the Saltire First Book of the Year award, & Mayhem & Death (404 Ink), as well as a novel, Flesh of the Peach (Freight, 2017). The Goldblum Variations – a collection of experimental micro-fictions – was published by 404 Ink, & Penguin in 2019. Her short stories have been listed for distinction in The Best of British Fantasy (2018), The Best of British & Irish Flash Fictions (2018/19), & nominated for the Pushcart prize. Helen is a part-time lecturer at the University of Glasgow & co-founder of writing retreat Write Toscana.