The Last Girl

In The Last Girl, M.R. Mandell's sophomore chapbook, she tells stories of abandonment, and survival. Opening with a young girl's vivid memory of sexual abuse, M.R. guides us through her speakers' experiences with exploitation and betrayal, often from the ones they trusted most. Using a collage of voices, she winds us along shallow streets of suburbia, haunted bedrooms, and stark city rooftops. With honesty and humor, she reflects on a childhood full of poverty, fear and death, ending with grown-up tales of feminine defiance and hope.