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Description
Bloomsbury presents In White Ink by Elske Rahill, read by Sophie Jo Wasson.
Motherhood, nurture and violence – these are the themes of Elske Rahill's remarkable first collection, In White Ink. Rahill brings to life the psychological and physical reality of mothering, pregnancy and childbirth in ways that few others writers have attempted. Here is a biting realism, in the relations between men and women and in the expectations and failures of their assigned roles.
Each story is illumined by moments of harsh poetry. They are carefully crafted snapshots of our condition. In the title story, an isolated young mother is locked in to a custody battle with her abusive husband; 'Right to Reply' shows three generations of women confronting the terrible legacy of their family's past; in 'Toby', a woman obsessed with hygiene finally snaps, when she finds her home is infested with fleas. The precision of Rahill's prose, the stoicism of her unflinching narrative gaze, reveal characters caught up in violently emotional situations.
The version of motherhood found here is painful. Yet its endurance, as nature's greatest force, is brilliantly and compassionately rendered.
Product details
| Published | Nov 06 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Audiobook |
| Duration | 8 hours and 0 minutes |
| ISBN | 9781035924172 |
| Imprint | Apollo |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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This remarkable collection is a sometimes bleak, yet always compelling snapshot into maternity, nature, the inequality of social expectations and human compassion
The Bookseller
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Exquisite, savagely honest collection... Bleak, but acutely insightful'
Daily Mail
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Rahill has a keen sense of the varieties of sexual desire, of social inequality, grief and a withering eye for the ridiculous... [Her] stories will kiss you goodnight and then give you nightmares'
Irish Independent
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Rahill is a brilliant bloody writer – gossamer light prose laced with nuclear tipped torpedoes. I consumed these stories in one great greedy gulp. More please!
Rosita Sweetman
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Rahill offers a mix of mothers in her 11 stories, the most affecting of which is the first-person story of the titular In White Ink
Irish Times
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An impressive debut
Irish Times

























