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"Deliciously dark and shockingly bold--someone needs to make this into a film right now! Lucy Rose is one to watch. This is one of my favourite debuts in a long time." -- Kirsty Logan, author of Now She is Witch
About the author
Lucy Rose is an author and award-winning writer/director with an interest in the gothic, girlhood, and horror. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in Dread Central , Mslexia, and other publications. Rose's films have visited BAFTA- and Oscar-qualifying film festivals internationally. Lucy’s debut novel, The Lamb, was published by HarperCollins in the US and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK. She lives on the northeast coast of England with her black cat, Figgy, and is currently working on her next book.
Summary
A DAKOTA JOHNSON TEATIME BOOK CLUB PICK · INSTANT #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A FOLK TALE. A HORROR STORY. A LOVE STORY. AN ENCHANTMENT.
"A dark, gorgeous concoction.”—New York Times
“Beautiful, terrifying . . . . Destined to become a classic."—Washington Post
From an incendiary new talent, a contemporary queer folktale about a mother and daughter living in the woods, for fans of Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, and Julia Armfield.
Margot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember.
When Margot is not at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Strays, Mama calls them. People who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she satisfies her burning appetite by picking apart their bodies.
But Mama’s want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a beautiful, white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires, and make her bid for freedom.
With this gothic coming-of-age tale, debut novelist Lucy Rose explores how women swallow their anger, desire, and animal instincts—and wrings the relationship between mother and daughter until blood drips from it.
