Where the World Begins

A devastating and exhilarating memoir about the re-emergence of memory after sexual violence, recovery and rebuilding a life

Rosie Price was twenty-three, starting a life and a career in London, when her world was turned upside down by the re-emergence of a memory of rape. As she tried to piece her life back together, and to reconcile the memory of this long-forgotten night, a deeper philosophical enquiry began.

Feeling alienated from her body, her history and the world around her, questions began to form. What is a self, if not the sum total of our memories, or the story of our life’s experiences? Is it a material thing, a body, through which we encounter the world? What happens to us when our sense of self is shattered, and how can we repair this rupture?

Price examines these questions through the lenses of art, literature, philosophy and lived experience. Where the World Begins is the story of her quest to reassemble her life, and her capacity to be in the world and to love in the aftermath of violence.