Format
Short Story
Logline
An ecologist begins to taste the world through her feet. As developers move in on the fenland she’s fought to protect, her body and the landscape start speaking the same language but nobody is listening to either of them.
Genre
Ecological Fiction
Themes
Full Synopsis
Ecological consultant Madeline Bennett’s body is changing in ways she can’t control or understand. She tries to explain but her doctors find nothing wrong. Left alone with her transformation, Madeline must choose: resist her unravelling or trust her body knows that she is becoming something more.
AN Excerpt FROM THE WEAVE
“Does it hurt?” The doctor scrolled his mouse, still looking at the screen.
“No.”
“Numbness?”
“No”
“Does the tingling move anywhere else?”
“No… yes. It’s difficult to explain exactly. All over. Under my skin.”
“Hmm,” the doctor rubbed his right temple in little circles.
Madeline peeled off her sock. Her foot was tightly wrapped in clingfilm up to her ankle. “It… it looks bad. It’s better than the taste, you know? Of my shoes. Not my feet. I’m used to that now. You do. You get used to it, eventually. Like, your morning breath isn’t as repulsive as breathing in someone else’s.” Madeline shifted uneasily in her seat. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can taste through my feet.”
© Marie Cooper. All rights reserved.
Production & Publication History
- The short story was shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2025 and published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology 2026
Photographs
