Sharp Edges

Katie is used to being let down. Her best friend abandoned her for a boy, her mom is a hypochondriac who spends most days on the couch, and the guys at school can do whatever they want while the girls are stuck following the rules.

All Katie wants is to be seen. So when she finds an online world where women aren't ashamed of what they want and consent doesn't feel like the grey area she's used to, shethinks she's finally in control. But as Katie becomes more and more enmeshed in this virtual playground, she begins to realize her newfound power may just be an illusion.

Sharp Edgesis the story of agirl lost in a grown-up world far darker than she could have imagined searching for someone to guide her to a place where she can be sixteen again.

• How Leah Mol wrote the story that won the CBC Short Story Prize
• The CBC Books fall reading list: 30 Canadian books to read now
• 22 books by past CBC Literary Prizes winners and finalists that came out in 2022

Leah Mol is a writer and editor who graduated from the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia. She alsowon the 2020 Bronwen Wallace Award for emerging writers.Sharp Edgesis her debut novel.

Molwon the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize.