lost objects by Marian Womack
Publisher – Calque Press
Published – Out Now
Price – £12.99 paperback via https://calquepress.com/collections/books/products/pre-order-lost-objects-new-revised-edition
These stories explore place and landscape at different stages of decay, positioning them as fighting grounds for death and renewal. From dystopian Andalusia to Scotland or the Norfolk countryside, they bring together monstrous insects, ghostly lovers, soon-to-be extinct species, unexpected birds, and interstellar explorers, to form a coherent narrative about loss and absence.
I like uncertainty in my stories. I like tales where the reader has to put the pieces together and sometimes have to create their own conclusions. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is a ghost story or/is as well a study in psychology of a damaged character. Life is ambiguous why can’t fiction be as well? Therefore, I was delighted to get to reading Lost Objects by Marian Womack; an author I’ve reviewed a few times and always enjoyed their novels. In this case a collection of short fiction tales await designed to make you think, wonder and ponder our relationships with each other and our wider world.
In this collection among the stories that I enjoyed were
Orange Dogs – This tale takes place in a post-apocalyptic Cambridge where the rivers flood and destroyed the land. We meet a man making marmalade to sell; why his heavily pregnant wife stays at home. This tale explores grief, fear and rebirth and is a perfect starting point for the tales you’ll see. Womack creates a disturbing future and explains the years that led up toit in just a few lines across the tale but throughout we get a feel of an eerie dying world that makes you fear for the lead character who seeks answers. Touching on topics such as child death and parenthood it is a land of uncertainty where life feels fragile and yet ends on a note of hope and rebirth. A beautiful powerful story/
Little Red Drops – a tale playing with a fairy tale that goes in a different direction as we guess exactly what or main character has wished for. Potentially dangerous men and wild forests outside a location make us think we are in one tale that turns into another. Is revenge really worth it in the end?
Black Isle – My favourite in the collection. In the future small reserves of nature are created using genetically artificial life from birds to whales but something is going wrong. A tale of a flawed creator investing this flawed world. The unnatural and natural worlds collide and lead to disturbing choices. It’s a black mirror style horror tale told in a mixture of lyrical and clinical prose that makes us remember that technology may not always lead to the best solution s to save the world.
Kingfisher – I loved this story we get a world of environmental collapse and at the same time a falling apart relationship. Our narrator loses her life and career in thrall to a possessive and spiteful partner. Escape, healing, and new life out of the old world are explored and this could be SF, fantasy or horror depending how you read it.
An inventive collection from other planets, other realities and to our near future in just a few pages this was an immersive read. Womack’s use of language is something to savour and enjoy with the natural world of flowers and animals featuring prominently but rather than just offering a sense of wonder it offers strangeness, an unreality; and a sense of the unknow that makes you realise humans are not the centre of the universe and we can easily get lost in the wider world and may never escape it. Highly recommended!
