Girl-Shaped Shadows: A Short Story

By Tara McTiernan

Eleven-year old Isobel and her guardian and aunt, Marmalee, do everything they can to avoid the sunlight – fearful of skin cancer and suntans – yet they find themselves unavoidably drawn to the beach near their home in Connecticut one sunny June day by the very people they abhor most: the Normals. The lure? The gorgeous Mrs. Johnson, her aunt’s new love-interest. The problem? Isobel’s nemesis and object of obsession: Mrs. Johnson’s daughter Chloe.

Things take a surprising turn on this brilliant burning day by the sea when Chloe abandons her best friend, Hilary, for Isobel, her new best friend. Are things what they seem? Could Isobel’s wildest fantasy be coming true? Or is some darker truth about to be revealed?

Published originally in Eureka Literary Magazine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tara McTiernan
• Release date: Jan 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465787972

Tara McTiernan

Tara McTiernan lives in North Carolina with her husband and grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and on an island in the Great South Bay on Long Island, New York, which has been the setting for her novel and short stories. Her stories have been included in multiple literary magazines including Eureka Literary Magazine and Ultimate Writer. Her debut novel, Barefoot Girls, has recently been released as an ebook with the print version to be available in late spring 2012. Visit her blog at http://taramctiernanfiction.blogspot.com/ for more information.

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Description

Eleven-year old Isobel and her guardian and aunt, Marmalee, do everything they can to avoid the sunlight – fearful of skin cancer and suntans – yet they find themselves unavoidably drawn to the beach near their home in Connecticut one sunny June day by the very people they abhor most: the Normals. The lure? The gorgeous Mrs. Johnson, her aunt’s new love-interest. The problem? Isobel’s nemesis and object of obsession: Mrs. Johnson’s daughter Chloe.

Things take a surprising turn on this brilliant burning day by the sea when Chloe abandons her best friend, Hilary, for Isobel, her new best friend. Are things what they seem? Could Isobel’s wildest fantasy be coming true? Or is some darker truth about to be revealed?

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Girl-Shaped Shadows – A Short Story

By Tara McTiernan

Copyright 2011 by Tara McTiernan

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All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher

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