Doctor Knife

By Marni Scofidio

Leonora, shy, quiet and more comfortable with television than with real life, has come to England for love. She dreams of a London that never existed, except in melodramatic films and bad novels. When her reality falls far short of the dream, she discovers she can’t return to her country. To survive she takes a job working in Christopher Marlowe House, Deptford, as a live-in mother’s help for the oddball and out-of-step Dr. Nye and her husband, Duncan.
Leonora suffers her new existence without complaining. Until one day she meets the beautiful, lively Safie. Things start to go downhill with her employer at the same time Safie gives Leonora new hope in her life.

And then the one real friend she has made in the city, the one person she has come to love, disappears. The mother’s help job becomes impossible, partly because of Duncan, partly because Nye is abusive and demanding. Leonora finally realises she must flee Christopher Marlowe House — with devastating consequences.
Doctor Knife is a horror novella set in the south London of the early 1990s. It was originally accepted for publication in 1999 but is now published for the first time in 2012.

Please note: this is an horror novella written for an adult audience and as such contains material not suitable for under-18s. While it is *not* erotica, it does contain lesbian and heterosexual sex scenes and violence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marni Scofidio
• Release date: Jul 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476175058

Marni Scofidio

Born in San Francisco, California and raised in Buffalo, New York, Marni Rae Scofidio has lived in Britain since 1991. Her stories have appeared in semi- and professional magazines and anthologies, some reprinted in Best New Horror and Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. One story was nominated for a British Fantasy Society Award for short fiction, and another won First Prize in the Roadworks Short Fiction competition. Scofidio's writing is inspired by, in no particular order, Edith Wharton, H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Lanoe Falconer, Patricia Highsmith, Robert Aickman, Vera Caspary, Rachel Ingalls, Strunk & White, Peter H. Cannon, Chet Williamson, Austin Wright, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Natalie Goldberg, and Ireland’s genius, the stained glass artist and pen & ink illustrator Harry Clarke. Scofidio lauds the ebook revolution, as evidenced here on Smashwords, giving a new-found freedom to writers whose work steps outside the bounds of traditionally-published fiction, allowing for the author to choose the book length and style most suited to her temperament and interests. Also by self-publishing her work as ebooks, Scofidio is doing her bit for the planet. Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you download Marni Scofidio's work, we hope you enjoy it!