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Sophie Mackintosh
Sophie Mackintosh's fiction has appeared in Granta and The Stinging Fly, among others. She was the winner of the 2016 White Review Short Story Prize and the Virago X Stylist short story prize. Her debut novel, The Water Cure, is published by Hamish Hamilton in the UK and forthcoming from Doubleday in the US.

Articles Available Online


Lena Andersson's ‘Acts of Infidelity’

Book Review

July 2018

Sophie Mackintosh

Book Review

July 2018

Acts of Infidelity is the second novel by Lena Andersson that follows unlucky-in-love heroine Ester Nilsson, and it’s another scalpel-sharp look at a doomed...

Fiction

May 2018

Self-Improvement

Sophie Mackintosh

Fiction

May 2018

I had been sent back from the city in disgrace, back to my parents’ house in the country. It...

The meteorite retraced its orbit in the solar system for fifteen million years until a passing comet pushed it towards the earth It took twenty thousand years to collide with the planet, as glaciers melted, mountains formed, and waters receded Countless life forms went extinct as others fought fiercely, adapted, and populated the earth When the foreign object finally entered the atmosphere, the force of impact reduced it to a shower of glowing fragments that burned up before reaching the ground Only the heart of the meteorite was spared from violent disintegration An igneous ball, one and a half metres wide, hit the ground outside San Borja; its spectacular descent from the sky was witnessed by a married couple who were arguing in their home at five thirty in the morning   It was totally dark when Ruddy got up to wash the dishes He tiptoed out of the room so that he wouldn’t wake Dayana, who slept with her mouth open, making little pig-like grunts He stopped in the hallway to feel the darkness The crickets chirped in a hysterical chorus; he heard the sleepy neighing of the horses in the distance Once again he felt his body buzzing with the evil energy He went into the kitchen and turned on the light The dirty plates were still sitting on the counter, seething with ants: Ely, the girl, had missed work that day and Dayana hardly ever cleaned at all Out here in the country, any food left out was devoured by insects in a matter of hours He had imagined the army of bugs swarming over the dirty plates and the thought was so unsettling that it pulled him from bed He vigorously scrubbed each dish, pot, and pan The chore momentarily expelled some of the evil energy that had stored up in his body He felt triumphant: he had conquered the ants Captain America, he thought Then he dried the silverware and put it away He stretched out an arm to open the cupboard but as he leaned over the counter his belly brushed the edge of the

Contributor

April 2016

Sophie Mackintosh

Contributor

April 2016

Sophie Mackintosh’s fiction has appeared in Granta and The Stinging Fly, among others. She was the winner of the...

Grace

Prize Entry

Issue No. 17

Sophie Mackintosh

Prize Entry

Issue No. 17

14. It comes for me in the middle of the day when I am preparing lunch, quartering a tomato then slicing each segment in...

READ NEXT

feature

Issue No. 13

Under a Bright Red Star

Federico Campagna

feature

Issue No. 13

Five is a number dense with theological significance. Five are the books of the Torah, five the wounds of...

poetry

Issue No. 10

Letter to a Frozen Peas Manufacturer

Lydia Davis

poetry

Issue No. 10

Dear Frozen Peas Manufacturer, We are writing to you because we feel that the peas illustrated on your package of...

poetry

August 2013

To the Woman

Adam Seelig

poetry

August 2013

 

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