The discovery that thousands of British women were brought out to Aotearoa as servants – considered ‘surplus’ to the empire’s requirements at home – propelled journalist Michelle Duff’s new short fiction collection, which explores how women’s bodies are valued.
Milk
It is the month after I have my first baby. I’m sitting on the couch watching the clock. The leaves blow past on the deck outside but that makes no sense because I’m underwater. I may have been here for days. I can breathe and the baby can breathe but the minute hand is obstinate in its stillness and time only really starts when my husband gets home. I’m still bleeding and when I close my eyes and try to sleep the milk drips from my body and soaks the sheets.
Witches
It is 2022, and I’m standing in the middle of a riot. People are yelling, they are tearing up the ground and throwing it at the police. There is burning. A child’s playground. They…
