She hasn’t tried to sell me to some man with a taste for young flesh. Some women sell their daughters’ virginity for a fortune; the worst of them have the girls sewn up and sold again and again until some man gets wise to the scar tissue. The very, very worst sell their children’s lives altogether, but few people speak of that. It only happens in dark places, places where the air is heavy and sounds are strangely muffled as though crossing a great space, places where what’s normal ceases to have any influence. Places we will not go.I met Angela Slatter in a professional capacity when I started my job at QWC and didn't know her so well as a writer. Since then, I've been coaxed into her writing due both to her success and to her general friendliness and kindness as a fellow person in the industry. All that aside, her writing is sublime, something that twists up my insides and pulls me in by them. Bluebeard is right up my alley too - a short that explores relationships between women and the strengths that they share together and that set them apart. Lily and her mother are immense personalities conveyed in such a short piece of writing, so tenderly described and delicately understood, and I think this is something I'll have forever tucked away in my head because of it.
You can read Bluebeard over here care of Schlock Magazine.
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