A nameless narrator arrives in a “remote northern country” to run her eldest brother’s household. The position comes naturally: she has been a “faithful and perennial servant” to her siblings since infancy. But her brother soon departs, leaving her alone to struggle with the traumatic legacy of a vaguely outlined past event.
She quickly learns that the inhabitants of the nearby small town all hate her. Or fear her. Mothers cover their children’s eyes when she passes. At a cafe, unable to speak the language, the narrator points at a woman’s coffee cup and she bursts into tears while other customers surreptitiously make the sign of the cross. Later a shopkeeper crouches behind his counter in “some manner of defensive manoeuvre” while the narrator browses the shelves.
