Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.
But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for.
Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?
The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape.
Designer: Regina Flath
Art by: Allison Reimold
★ “Gritty and strange, this sophomore novel is utterly compelling.”
—Booklist, starred review
“Rory Power’s prose hits like a lightning strike in this deliriously creepy tale, the kind of slow-crawling horror that’ll keep your nightmares up at night.”
—Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
Publicity
Lili Feinberg, lfeinberg@penguinrandomhouse.com
Trigger and Content Warnings Below
- Fire.
- Emotional abuse by a parent, including gaslighting. Familial and generational abuse.
- Nonconsensual pregnancy – note, no sexual assault or rape.
- Body horror, some gore, blood (lighter, relative to Wilder Girls).
- Death. On page character death. Child/infant death (takes place off page but implied violence – pages 301 and 308 in the print ARC).
- Off-page gun violence.
- Emesis (mention of vomiting).
Warnings will continue to be updated as necessary – if there is anything you feel should be TWed or CWed, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Rory Power 