At the Bottom of the Garden: A Novel

by Camilla Bruce

But that, I suppose, is how children are: They cling to the people they know, no matter how toxic they are. Some never grow out of it either, but keep chasing those who do them harm even as adults.

“Do you think the wicked witches and cruel stepmothers in your storybooks just appeared, like that?” I snapped my fingers. “Do you think they were hatched from witches’ eggs, or sprung from the devil’s brow fully formed? Even women like me, at odds with the world, have a past. We were all girls once—clay to be molded—but not all of us were allowed to grow and flourish as we should.”