Dark Matters: A Novel

By: Susan Hawthorne

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Synopsis: In a dawn raid, Ekaterina (Kate) is arrested. She is imprisoned, beaten, kept awake and tortured. She has no idea what has happened to her partner, Mercedes. The uncertainty plagues her. It is as if she has no history. Trying to retain her sense of self in a swirling psychic state, she invents stories. And she remembers stories of her mother, her grandmothers and aunts, the rich mythic traditions of Greece. She rearranges them and writes poems in her head. Thirty years later, her niece Desi is going through Kate's papers after her death, trying to make sense of her aunt's life. Susan Hawthorne's dark story uncovers hidden histories of organized violence. She traces fear and uncertainty, and finds a narrative of resilience created through the writing of poems and stories. The author asks: how do we pass on stories hidden by shame and resistance to shame? A novel that is both poetic and terrifying.