Date of Award

Fall 12-20-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Dr. Theodora Ziolkowski

Committee Members

Dr. Annarose Steinke, Dr. Megan Hartman, and Dr. Julie Lanz

Keywords

Nebraska Gothic, motherhood

Abstract/Description

THE CURSE OF THE MOTHER is a novel examining the definitions and boundaries of motherhood in a time of scientific procreation. Twenty-one-year-old Lucy Lane lost her infant daughter a year ago and has since wrestled with crushing hospital and funeral debt, compounded by past-due loans for an unfinished psychology degree. Lucy takes a high-paying job tutoring a sickly child at Hargrave House, a decrepit Victorian mansion on the pastures outside Lincoln, Nebraska. The mansion boasts its own research wing in which the Hargrave family members – all women – work to create a medicine to extend the human lifespan. Once settled into Hargrave House and her new routine, Lucy’s paychecks begin to stem the flow of collection notices. However, she can’t long ignore the enigmatic oddities of the women she now lives with; when the Hargrave woman closest to Lucy’s age dies by suicide, Lucy abandons any pretense of professional distance from the family and dives headfirst into uncovering the Hargraves’ secrets, hoping to save her tutee from such a fate. Beyond an uncanny revelation that explains the Hargrave women’s relationships, Lucy learns that the Hargraves plan to release their barely-ready life-extending medicine to whomever can handle its exorbitant cost: celebrities, chemists, and criminals alike. Additionally, the Hargraves drag Lucy into their Frankensteinian family, forcing her to face her biggest fear, having another baby. Lucy must act quickly to derail the unethical medical debut and extricate herself from Hargrave House before the window closes on having an abortion – though Lucy wonders if it’s more monstrous to carry the Hargrave child or kill it.

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Available for download on Monday, December 31, 2029

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