SHOWCASE EXTRA 'Hosanna by the Glass Shards' - Kathleen's showcased piece on the site, is a chapter from her currently-unpublished novel, 'Girl on a Stick.' The following is Kathleen's synopsis of the novel.
GIRL ON A STICK by Kathleen Kiirik Bryson
The Synopsis
A floating blue apparition of the Virgin Mary. That’s what Clementine Logan, jaded American, sees from the window of her No. 38 bus. This is the first in a series of alarming religious visions, triggered by her nascent relationship with fellow foreigner Per, a green-eyed Norwegian undergraduate. Set against a backdrop of gritty East London streets and post/pop-everything academia, the relationship with Per grows more twisted, the miracles grow weirder, and soon something's gotta snap. As tension rises, it also becomes clear that – as a young teenager – Clementine was sexually abused by the priest of her local parish, a priest whose greatest joy lay in tormenting Clem through the use of word-games, puzzles and rebuses. As the story progresses and the reader realises that Clem’s religious visions are slowly adding up to the greatest rebus puzzle of all, Clem finds herself in a world built on codes she never will crack. Clementine Logan needs a break. Girl on a Stick is all about breaking: break-ups, nervous breakdowns, breakthroughs. Yet the novel is also about the aftermath of a break: what happens after the cracking and splitting; how you can grow new skins or maybe even extra legs. Both blasphemous and reverent – and ostensibly an account of a troubled relationship – the real target of this novel is not only patriarchal institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church, but also mindless masochism. A blister-black comedy.
Reproduced with permission
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