Nightshift by Kiare Ladner is a story of obsession set in London's liminal world of nightshift workers.
When twenty-three-year-old Meggie meets distant and enigmatic Sabine, she recognizes in her the person she would like to be. Giving up her daytime existence and the trappings of a normal life in favour of working the same nightshifts as Sabine, Meggie will plunge herself into a nihilistic existence that will see her gradually immerse herself in the transient and uncertain world of the nightshift worker.
Dark, sexy, frightening, prescient, Nightshift explores ambivalent female friendship, sexual attraction and lives that defy easy categorization. London's stark urban reality is rendered other-wordly and strange as Meggie's sleep deprivation, drinking and obsession for Sabine gain a momentum all of their own. As a child, Kiare Ladner wanted to live on a farm, run and orphanage and be on stage. As an adult, she found herself working for academics, with prisoners and on nightshifts. Her short stories have been published in anthologies, broadcast on the radio and shortlisted in competitions, including the BBC National Short Story Award 2018. A dark, compelling story of obsession and compulsion: one woman's decision to shrug off her normal life and join the other-worldly existence of London's nightshift workers.
