It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
Cover Designer: Regina Flath
Art by: Aykut Aydogdu
★ “Power’s evocative, haunting, and occasionally gruesome debut will challenge readers to ignore its bewitching presence.”
—Booklist, starred review
★ “An ode to empowering women and a testament to the strength of female bonds… Far more than just an unsettling horror story, this powerful debut novel about a strange disease at an all-girls boarding school explores female empowerment, friendship and survival with tenacity and brilliance.”
—Shelf Awareness, starred review
“Wilder Girls is the bold, imaginative, emotionally wrenching horror novel of my dreams—one that celebrates the resilience of girls and the earthshaking power of their friendships. An eerie, unforgettable triumph.”
—Claire Legrand, New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn
Publicity
Lili Feinberg, lfeinberg@penguinrandomhouse.com
Trigger and Content Warnings Below
- Graphic violence and body horror. Gore.
- On the page character death, parental death, and animal death (the animals are not pets).
- Behavior and descriptive language akin to self harm, and references to such.
- Food scarcity and starvation. Emesis.
- A scene depicting chemical gassing.
- Suicide and suicidal ideation.
- Non-consensual medical treatment.
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 