Chrysalis

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A masterclass in character, Chrysalis is an unsettling and brilliant portrait - not just of a woman in transformation or of those who fall into her orbit, but also of a world defined simultaneously by our isolation and by our longing to connect. This is a sharply-wrought, surprisingly tender book about how our internal changes create external change... often in ways we didn't intend -- Jen Silverman, author of We Play Ourselves Taking on questions of femininity and expectation, as well as social media and its ability to make a cult leader of anyone, Chrysalis raises as many questions as it answers about our society and our place within it -- "Most Anticipated Books of 2023" * Lit Hub * Metcalfe was shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award in 2014 for “Number Three”, a story that later appeared in her first collection of short stories, Blind Water Pass, published by John Murray in 2016. Metcalfe, who teaches creative writing at the University of Birmingham, and whose work has been published in The Best British Short Stories, nominated for the prestigious Sunday Times Short Story Award, spoke with me via Zoom about the language we use to describe processes of transformation; what it means to be perceived; how social media plays a role in how we see ourselves and are seen by others; and what it means to balance responsibility with freedom.

In trying to understand her through their perspectives, you slowly come to understand the narrators and their experiences. That form hopefully allows a reader to consider how the things that they look at—the things that they experience, the people that they see or encounter through their phones online—are forces that act upon them. To some extent, the things that you look at, or allow your attention to be consumed by, become constructive [or] destructive forces on yourself.”Elliot is the first narrator. “At the point that we meet Elliot, he is meeting her,” says Metcalfe. “So, as a reader, and for me as a writer, I got to look at her from the outside before I knew anything about her, as Elliot does.”

Over the course of the novel it becomes clear that the woman is preparing for the ‘the next phase’ of her life where she will leave those she knew behind Character in flux In the end, it felt as though we missed out on the most interesting aspects of the character's transformation - becoming a supposed cult leader. The cult she builds is only ever vaguely alluded to, and it's unclear how this would have happened or if it actually happened at all. So much of the story existed in a seemingly liminal space, and it seems to be the authors' intent despite how much it left me wanting. Three distinct parts comprise the book, all are named characters: Elliot, Bella and Susie. The parts all stand alone, and while all revolve around the same figure, “she” is never named, and is always a shadowy and unknowable figure. She also defines the three viewpoints being expressed. It’s an interesting way to draw in the reader to feel the pulse of the book.

Over the course of the novel it becomes clear that the woman is preparing for “the next phase” of her life where she will leave those who knew her behind, in favour of something else. The abandoned narrators watch the content that she creates and posts online: she is a wellness influencer of a sort and her strange videos are devoted to strength and stillness. “Variously all three narrators describe her as being made out of stone or carved from something, so it’s as if she becomes made of some natural material rather than a person. Something that’s more durable or more permanent than a person.” AM: It’s very liberating. It made me start to wonder: What are the good responsibilities? And what are the bad ones? There’s a great Toni Morrison quote about how “Freedom is choosing your responsibility. It’s not having no responsibilities; it’s choosing the ones you want.” I thought a lot about that idea of what freedom is, if freedom requires the abandonment of social convention, if it requires to be free of the kind of complexity and nuance and messiness of interpersonal relationships or if freedom has to exist positively within some of that, you just have to be able to choose for yourself.