A Death in the Family

Nellie's brother Jimmy passed away when she was only nine years old. As she reflects on the accident that claimed his life, she must acknowledge her own mortality and the empty space that death leaves behind.

Billy O'Callaghan, from Cork, Ireland, has authored three short story collections: In Exile (Mercier Press, 2008), In Too Deep (Mercier Press, 2009), and The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind (New Island, 2013), which won a Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Award; and a novel, The Dead House (Brandon/O'Brien Press, 2017), forthcoming in a U.S. edition from Arcade/Skyhorse in Spring 2018. Recent stories have appeared in the Chattahoochee Review, Kenyon Review, London Magazine, Salamander and the Saturday Evening Post.