ABSTRACT
The chapter is extracted from a draft of a novel-in-progress titled Kindergirl. Susie (17) is an Irish girl au pairing in Germany’s Black Forest region in 1984. Alienated, adrift and experiencing somatic paralysis in her writing hand, she has begun using her other hand to compose strange Letters to herself – a form of automatic writing. The children in her care, initially docile, start to act up. One day Elsa, the oldest, runs away. Chasing Elsa, Susie encounters a young man who she believes stole her passport on her journey to Germany. The events are recounted by another Irish girl (Maeve) who Susie will later meet.
