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American Ghoul
- Author
- Michelle McGill-Vargas
- Narrator
- Jeanette Illidge
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 17 September 2024
- Run Time
- 10 hours 17 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
What to expect
A wildly entertaining debut from Michelle McGill-Vargas, American Ghoul deftly combines horror and social commentary—with a dash of buddy comedy—in an innovative twist on the vampire genre.
You can’t kill someone who’s already dead.
That’s what Lavinia keeps telling her jailer after—allegedly—killing her mistress, Simone Arceneau. But how could Simone be dead when she was taking callers just a few minutes before? And why was her house always so dark?
Lavinia, a recently freed slave, met Simone, a recently undead vampire, by chance on a plantation in post–Civil War Georgia. With nothing remaining for either woman in the South, the two form a fast friendship and head north. However, Lavinia quickly learns that teaming up with this white woman may be more than she bargained for.
Simone is reckless and impulsive—which would’ve been bad enough on its own, but when combined with her particular diet, Lavinia finds herself in way over her head. As she is forced to repeatedly compromise her morals and struggles to make lasting human connections, Lavinia begins to wonder, is she truly free or has she merely exchanged one form of enslavement for another? As bodies start to pile up in the small Indiana town they’ve settled in, people start to take a second look at the two newcomers, and Simone and Lavinia’s relationship is stretched to its breaking point …
Critics Review
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“Wickedly clever and brutal in the best way. American Ghoul is a hair-raising, grimly funny American tale that’s sharply observed and entertaining as hell. Michelle McGill-Vargas arrives with a totally original voice, and her debut is unmissable.”
Rachel Harrison, bestselling author of Black Sheep and Such Sharp Teeth
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“In Michelle McGill’s American Ghoul the pain of American history and human and nonhuman monsters collide. Always engrossing, yet tender and heartbreaking, McGill has expertly resurrected an ancient story, yet demands that we closely examine the wicked creatures that lurk in our past.”
Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award–winning author
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“McGill-Vargas’s deliciously unsettling debut adds a vampiric twist to the Reconstruction-era United States…Readers will be drawn in.”
Publishers Weekly
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“Michelle McGill-Vargas’s American Ghoul innovatively merges vampires with serious social commentary and the buddy-comedy trope.”
Library Journal
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“A highly entertaining debut, American Ghoul excels with standout characters and unexpected humor…Michelle McGill-Vargas is a writer to watch.”
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Details
- Author
- Michelle McGill-Vargas
- Narrator
- Jeanette Illidge
- Duration
- 10 hours 17 minutes
- Release Date
- 17 September 2024
- ISBN
- 9798212198240
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Horror and supernatural fiction, Historical fiction, Historical fiction, Occult fiction, Romance, Historical romance, Fiction: general and literary
Synopsis
A wildly entertaining debut from Michelle McGill-Vargas, American Ghoul deftly combines horror and social commentary—with a dash of buddy comedy—in an innovative twist on the vampire genre.You can’t kill someone who’s already dead.That’s what Lavinia keeps telling her jailer after—allegedly—killing her mistress, Simone Arceneau. But how could Simone be dead when she was taking callers just a few minutes before? And why was her house always so dark?Lavinia, a recently freed slave, met Simone, a recently undead vampire, by chance on a plantation in post–Civil War Georgia. With nothing remaining for either woman in the South, the two form a fast friendship and head north. However, Lavinia quickly learns that teaming up with this white woman may be more than she bargained for.Simone is reckless and impulsive—which would’ve been bad enough on its own, but when combined with her particular diet, Lavinia finds herself in way over her head. As she is forced to repeatedly compromise her morals and struggles to make lasting human connections, Lavinia begins to wonder, is she truly free or has she merely exchanged one form of enslavement for another? As bodies start to pile up in the small Indiana town they’ve settled in, people start to take a second look at the two newcomers, and Simone and Lavinia’s relationship is stretched to its breaking point …
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