cracks (2023)

a collection of short stories written by natasha gorbina and illustrated by bianca multerer

A chalk letter turns into a snake when a rookie teacher realises she is afraid of children. A chocolate box sets free the past of a young mother overwhelmed by her newborn baby. A rivulet of blood runs down the hands of an artist who might, quite possibly, have killed her soulmate. Inspired by the Greek tales of troubled women, powerful artefacts, and deadly curses, these stories peer through the cracks in the everyday lives of twelve modern-day heroines and explore their unconscious fears and hopes.

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jar of silence (2017)

a short story

“Draw me a story,” his little sister would ask him almost every evening, and shadowy contours of a human figure would begin to appear under the brisk but confident movements of the charcoal. “You forgot the rod, Mo. You always forget the rod,” she would remind him and the charcoal would fly along a crack in the wooden floor, apologetically adding the essential detail, and then suddenly becoming hectic, twitching and spasming around the hovering figure, caressing the floor one moment and attacking it almost aggressively the next. Miriam would always be enchanted by how he did it, and lurching forward, the candlelight twinkling under her breath, she could see the waters part under the hand of her brother as the children of Israel would march toward their long-aspired-for freedom.

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