Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
by Maddie Mortimer· 2022
Maddie Mortimer's debut centres on Lia and the shapeshifting malady that enters her body at the close of her life.
Today I might trace the rungs of her larynx or tap at her trachea like the bones of a xylophone... Something gleeful and malevolent is moving in Lia's body, learning her life from the inside out. A shape-shifter. A disaster tourist. It's travelling down the banks of her canals. It's spreading.
When a sudden diagnosis upends Lia's world, the boundaries between her past and her present begin to collapse. Deeply buried secrets stir awake. As the voice prowling in Lia takes hold of her story, and the landscape around becomes indistinguishable from the one within, Lia and her family are faced with questions: how can we move on from the events that have shaped us, when our bodies harbour everything? And what does it mean to die with grace, when you're simply not ready to let go?
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Maddie Mortimer's debut is a journey through one woman's body: a celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all.
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Maddie Mortimer's debut centres on Lia and the shapeshifting malady that enters her body at the close of her life. Today I might trace the rungs of her larynx or tap at her trachea like the bones of a xylophone... Something gleeful and malevolent is moving in Lia's body, learning her life from the inside out. A shape-shifter. A disaster tourist. It's travelling down the banks of her canals. It's spreading. When a sudden diagnosis upends Lia's world, the boundaries between her past and her present begin to collapse. Deeply buried secrets stir awake. As the voice prowling in Lia takes hold of her story, and the landscape around becomes indistinguishable from the one within, Lia and her family are faced with questions: how can we move on from the events that have shaped us, when our bodies harbour everything? And what does it mean to die with grace, when you're simply not ready to let go? Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is a story of coming-of-age at the end of a life. Maddie Mortimer's debut is a journey through one woman's body: a celebration of desire, forgiveness, and the darkness within us all.