Finalist for the 2026 Epigram Books Fiction Prize
A woman holds everything together, then her body begins to disappear.
After years of working, Seok Lin stays home to care for her family.
Then one day, her toe vanishes. Doctors diagnose her with a rare
condition that causes parts of her body to disappear. But while Seok Lin
fades, the needs of her family remain unchanged, and she finds herself
drawn to Chad, an AI interface that offers a strange sense of comfort.
A surreal and unsettling novel about motherhood, care and what it means to slowly disappear in plain sight.
“I wanted to explore the invisible labour of stay-at-home motherhood
through a speculative lens, in which the protagonist loses parts of
herself—a toe, an arm and both her legs—before finally fading from view.
Through her fight to reclaim herself, I hope this story helps women
everywhere remember who they are beneath it all. Stay whole, stay seen.”
—Jaclyn Lim
