A woman becomes attached to the dog-shaped psychopomp that presages her death in the allegorical, ultimately life-affirming fantasy novella Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw (The Library at Hellebore).
The women in Antigone's family see their own deaths, "not in portents, nor in the patterns of the stars... but as dogs of varying shapes." The appearance of Antigone's death, a handsome German shepherd, brings up complicated memories of her grandmother's death and her mother's suicide. Antigone tries to drive the dog away but eventually allows it to come inside and sleep in her bed as a warm, companionable presence. This comforting closeness to her death becomes problematic when one of Antigone's clients at the paranormal investigation firm where she works dies tragically; Antigone blames herself and sinks into depression. Her exhaustion and the inevitability of mortality lead Antigone into a dark time that could end in healing or in following death to the proverbial undiscovered country.
Khaw, who has experienced suicidal ideation, approaches a difficult subject with maturity and precision. She depicts Antigone's grief and depression with compassion and an acknowledgement that self-harm is often rooted not in weakness but in burnout. She also skillfully shows that Antigone's well-intentioned but pushier supporters inadvertently reinforce a feedback loop of self-loathing, while a friend who provides a simple, steady presence anchors her. This incisive, whimsical meditation on mortality, aging, and hope walks fearlessly in dark places but remembers to let in the light. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads