This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Deborah Triesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice,

we'll hear Ben Oakree read his story, The Secret Source,

which appeared in the September 19th, 2022 issue of the magazine.

Oakree is the author of 11 novels, including The Famished Road,

which won the Booker Prize in 1991,

and The Freedom Artist, which came out in 2019.

His poetry collection, A Fire in My Head,

Poems for the Dawn, was published last year.

Now here's Ben Oakree.

The Secret Source.

One morning, Fisher discovered that something had been done to the water.

For many years, there had been people who said that something was different about the water,

but no one had really believed them.

Their claims were seen as just the latest wild rumours,

imagine from the confused state of the country.

Slowly, the city had been sinking.

Its shores were overrun by mice.

The foundations of churches were crowded with rats.

They could be seen imagined from the graves in broad daylight.

Towers had fallen.

...