Where I End

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Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, a modern gothic horror where a young woman falls into a dark obsession after a new artist and her baby arrive on her small Irish island.

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. 

Described by New York Times–bestselling author John Connolly as “perhaps the finest Irish horror novel of the 21st century,” Where I End is a modern Irish gothic that will pull readers into its undertow of family resentments and relentless obsession.“Tremendous; the transition from pity to fear, as we warily circle Aoileann’s brutalised psyche, is brilliantly done.” —The Guardian

“This is a truly different Irish novel. One that entwines Irish myth, the reality of human bodies, life and death, and traditional gothic horror in a macabrely beautiful and, in the end, redemptive dance.” —Irish Independent

“If men did pregnancy, more horror would look like this: everyday caring with the volume turned up slightly and slowly until it is a scream that chills you to your insides, and echoes long into the night.” —Books Ireland Magazine

“Sophie White’s prose is exquisite and disturbing, both brutish and beautifully crafted. Full of heart, Where I End is not for the faint-hearted.” —The Irish Times

“Compelling all the way to the final page.” —Strange Horizons

“Where I End by Sophie White is a beautifully voiced, horrific novel about a teenager and her grandmother who live in isolation on an Irish island caring for the girl’s bedridden mother. The layers of the story unfold like an onion, one rotten at the core. Harrowing, glorious body horror (in an unexpected way), and one of the best novels of the year.” —Ellen Datlow, editor of The Best Horror of the Year

“Beautiful and strange.” —Louise O’Neill, award-winning author of Asking For It

“Deeply creepy and compelling.”—John Connolly, bestselling author of The Book of Lost Things

“Disturbing, brutal, chilling, this book truly is a horror. It’s also Sophie White’s best book yet.” —Doireann Ní Ghríofa, award-winning author of A Ghost in the ThroatSophie White is a novelist, essayist and podcaster from Dublin. She is the author of seven books. Her fifth book, the bestselling memoir Corpsing (Tramp Press, 2021), was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction. Where I End is her sixth book and won the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. She co-hosts the chart-topping comedy podcast, The Creep Dive and writes the Substack, Death Is Coming. You can find her at sophiewhite.info or @sophwhitewhoop on Instagram.US

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