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Four Terrible Parents

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What to expect

'A vivid, breathless tale of art, love, family and murder' Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of, The Blue Hour

'The prose is often beautiful and melodic . . . in this highly original and entertaining book' Sunday Times

'Henkel's comedy-slash-thriller is so fiendishly plotted' Guardian

'Four Terrible Parents is equal parts millennial fever dream and page-turner' Marie Claire

They thought with four parents, nothing could go wrong.

Once famous, indie-sleaze rock stars Valentine and Raul are now in their forties and their priorities are shifting. Valentine wants a family with her on-and-off partner Linh. Raul wants to marry his boyfriend Banner. They both know it's time to get out of Berlin, but Valentine, who wants it all - doesn't want to let their band go.

When Valentine's father dies, she inherits a Southern gothic hotel and it feels like fate. Val convinces Raul, Banner and Linh, to move to South Carolina to renovate the crumbling and possibly haunted hotel. There they will build an alternative family and raise a child together. With four parents, no one would have to compromise their entire identity. They could all still be artists. All able to live fully.

But as the four of them navigate their new home and welcome their daughter, August, into the world, their relationships start to tilt. On the night of the hotel's grand opening, what's meant to be an evening of celebration turns into a nightmare as August goes missing.

Soon the parents turn on each other. And then the world turns on them.

Four Terrible Parents is a story of love, jealousy and the curse of trying to have it all.

Readers love Four Terrible Parents

'One of my favourite books of 2026' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Every single character was mesmerising' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I want everyone to read this' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Beautifully written' ⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A delicious read' ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Critics Review

The prose is often beautiful and melodic . . . in this highly original and entertaining book
Sunday Times
Witty, incisive and beautifully plotted, Four Terrible Parents is a vivid, breathless tale of art, love, family and murder. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Torrey Peters
The Blue Hour
Henkel's comedy-slash-thriller is so fiendishly plotted you might not even notice all she has to say about art, love, friendship and family
Guardian
Calla Henkel's brilliantly offbeat new novel begins as a story about chosen family and creative reinvention before spiralling into a gripping literary mystery . . . Four Terrible Parents is equal parts millennial fever dream and page-turner
Marie Claire
Incredibly charming, fun and relentlessly whipsmart . . . Brilliant
Girl in a Band
Calla Henkel is unparalleled-her plots intricately built, her characters wholly original, and her skill at balancing chaos and narrative drive is without peer. Four Terrible Parents is all of those things but it's also brimming with unexpected warmth and bursting with Henkel's trademark sly wit. A story of a disappearance, it's also a hectic manual of self-discovery, and like all things Henkel: it does both with verve and joy. Sheer perfection.
The Cloisters
Darkly funny and brilliantly biting, this book punches right to the heart. Calla Henkel just gets better and better every time
He's the Devil
Four Terrible Parents is what they call a page-turner, full of fascinating characters who feel familiar yet mysterious, tight psychological nuance, gleeful suspense and the sharpest writing. I could not stop reading this book
Valencia
Henkel's perspective-switching narrative immediately drops another intense development into the mix; at first, like Donna Tartt's The Secret History, the initial mystery is how things arrive at a devastating crime, and the second mystery is how the crisis resolves. Four Terrible Parents relishes each switch in character point of view, smartly building reader knowledge alongside the changing understandings of each partner/parent. . . the ride is so thrilling and the characters so lovable (messiness, imperfections, bad choices, and all) that the pages can't turn fast enough
The Skinny
A darkly humorous novel
The Bookseller
Praise for Calla Henkel
Blackly humorous and enjoyably twisted
Paula Hawkins, author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
A sparkling debut . . . a very good plot-driven thriller dressed in a glittery jumpsuit
Guardian
Brutal, glamorous and genuinely unpredictable, it will blow your mind until the very last page
Stylist
Hugely entertaining
New York Times
Other People's Clothes is a gritty take on toxic female friendships . . . Expect a slow burn that's deliciously dark
Time Magazine
Thrilling
Cosmopolitan (UK)
Calla Henkel's Other People's Clothes is darkly funny, psychologically rich and utterly addictive. I couldn't stop turning the pages as this witty, harrowing tale of twisty female friendships, slippery identity and furtive secrets unfolded. This is a debut you won't want to miss
Megan Abbott, author of THE TURNOUT
A knotted mystery too intriguing to leave unpicked
Alice Slater, author of DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER
Binge-worthy . . . a brilliantly immersive and almost cinematic experience
Jenny Mustard, author of OKAY DAYS
Author Calla Henkel
Narrator Kate Handford
Duration 10 hours and 19 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781399829625
Format Audiobook
Publisher John Murray Press
Genre Modern and contemporary fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

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