ITCH!
- Author Gemma Amor
- Narrator Gemma Amor
- Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
- Publish Date 9 October 2025
- Run Time 9 hours and 23 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Classic horror and ghost stories, Contemporary horror and ghost stories, Crime and mystery fiction, Fairy and Folk tales, Folklore, myths and legends, Thriller / suspense fiction.
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What to expect
READERS LOVE GEMMA's DARK WORLD
'If you are after something that is both shocking and horrifically beautiful then take a journey and discover this little atrocity for yourself'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I kept telling myself I really should turn off the light and get to bed now, eyes dry, head heavy, but every sentence in this book commands the reader keep turning the pages and press onward...' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Gemma pulled me in with this compelling tale. Each page turned yielded me to another. I couldn't stop. Seriously!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Josie is at rock bottom. Burned out and recovering from an abusive relationship, she lives a haunted existence after returning to her isolated hometown on the edge of the Forest of Dean.
But the tall, dense pine trees are not the only things casting shadows across her skin.
When Josie stumbles across a dead woman's decaying, ant-infested body in the woods, she plummets into a downward spiral, facing uncomfortable truths about the victim and her own past - all whilst battling the swarming black ants that seem to have burrowed into her mind . . . and her flesh.
Struggling with infestations of all kinds, Josie scratches the surface of an age-old mystery - a masked predator stalks the forest around Ellwood, a place deeply gripped by folklore and strange customs. As the village prepares for its annual festival, Josie gets closer and closer to unveiling a monster, and begins to ask herself:
Are these dark crawling insects leading her to uncover the truth? Or is she their next victim?
'If you are after something that is both shocking and horrifically beautiful then take a journey and discover this little atrocity for yourself'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I kept telling myself I really should turn off the light and get to bed now, eyes dry, head heavy, but every sentence in this book commands the reader keep turning the pages and press onward...' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Gemma pulled me in with this compelling tale. Each page turned yielded me to another. I couldn't stop. Seriously!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Josie is at rock bottom. Burned out and recovering from an abusive relationship, she lives a haunted existence after returning to her isolated hometown on the edge of the Forest of Dean.
But the tall, dense pine trees are not the only things casting shadows across her skin.
When Josie stumbles across a dead woman's decaying, ant-infested body in the woods, she plummets into a downward spiral, facing uncomfortable truths about the victim and her own past - all whilst battling the swarming black ants that seem to have burrowed into her mind . . . and her flesh.
Struggling with infestations of all kinds, Josie scratches the surface of an age-old mystery - a masked predator stalks the forest around Ellwood, a place deeply gripped by folklore and strange customs. As the village prepares for its annual festival, Josie gets closer and closer to unveiling a monster, and begins to ask herself:
Are these dark crawling insects leading her to uncover the truth? Or is she their next victim?
Critics Review
A deeply felt, haunting folk horror that crawls with secrets and darkness. This disturbing and tender novel possessed me and made my skin crawl. It will keep you up long into the night!
So weird and juicy and gross and brilliant and made me want to slather myself in calamine lotion. I loved it!
As fun as it is earnest, ITCH! is an unflinching tale of the grotesque side of humanity and the people who unearth its rotting remains. From the first page, this story is already under your skin, building a nest in your heart
A chilling and tremendously disturbing examination of a wounded mind, of a fragile soul pushed to the limits of her very existence because of trauma, ritual, and obsession. Sinister and utterly fiendish, ITCH! is a shocking and truly surprising blend of mystery, folk horror, and body horror that will burrow deep in your softest places, into your tenderest, most unspoiled secret parts
This novel will genuinely make your skin crawl - you've been warned!
ITCH! places Gemma Amor firmly at the top of today's horror talent pool. It's as if a small village Tana French murder mystery turned into full on folk horror, with a constant buzz of body horror underneath. I couldn't have loved this more. It's under my skin now, and it itches! One of the year's absolute must-reads!
An exquisitely crafted, uniquely unnerving horror story told with stunning empathy. ITCH! is a visceral, astute, tense spiral into the lingering damage of abuse and violence. As unflinching and terrifying as it is gentle-hearted, it has all the makings of a horror classic
ITCH! is a marvel: a suppurating mash-up of body horror and folk horror, with real-world atrocities buried at its oozing core. Fans of Pine by Francine Toon, or the Merrily Watkins books by Phil Rickman, will go wild for this fast-paced, smart, intensely female-voiced work from the bowels of the English countryside
This wildly original tale will give you the heebie-jeebies
Gemma Amor masterfully weaves [...] a veritable tapestry of horror, building to an enormously gratifying climax that left my mouth agape. ITCH! is not for the squeamish, [but] is an immensely satisfying novel and another highlight in Gemma Amor's impressive body of literature
A wildly inventive and modern coming of age story about survival . . . and ants. This is the work of a genuine talent
Gut-churning yet inspired folk horror. Anyone who's grown up in the woods knows the endlessness Amor has painted here, vivid and tactile, and yet a place where dreams and nightmares come alive from every copse and hillock. A skin-crawling book of brutal secrets
A remarkable book - a fetid, crawling, infested feminist folk-horror that pulls zero punches on body horror or intellect. It's various orifices are full of things with too many legs, and you'll feel them scurry through your head. Class act!
Gemma Amor leads us on a disturbing hike through a shadowy forest of a story, where taboo, trauma and ancient presences grow wild, and where human malevolence seems to know no limit. A story that immediately strikes the reader as mattering deeply to the author. Without that quality, there is always something missing
The future of horror is in safe hands. A spectacular blend of psychological, body, and folk horror drenched in atmosphere and written with the kind of unwavering confidence that makes the author's contemporaries itch with envy, this is quite easily the best book I've read all year
A skin-crawling, spine-tingling venture, ITCH! is a compelling, astounding feat of folk horror that utilizes the ideas of tradition to examine our world's long-held and ill-tempered view of women
Not for the squeamish, ITCH! is a fast-paced, darkly feminist folk horror that will stay with you long after you turn the final page
A nerve-wracking tale of surreal suffering... strong enough to support serious themes with a harsh, poignant payoff
Gemma Amor stacks folk horror, body horror, a '90s-style serial-killer thriller, and a heavy dose of female rage into something satisfying and self-supporting. Nature infects everything, from the woodland murk that surrounds the town to the insects infiltrating Josie's life, and Amor writes about it all with equal beauty and grotesquerie. Itch is a mad, transgressive triumph, rupturing the membrane between subgenres as effectively as it penetrates the skin of its protagonist
An eerie modern fairytale, rife with skin-crawling imagery and monsters both real and imagined. Well-versed in the language of both trauma and violence, ITCH! is perfect for lovers of femgore - it's a transportive read that ratchets up the tension as the tale takes shape, like slowly revealing what lives in the shadows of the woods
Well-executed surprises . . . This is sure to get under horror fans' skin
A new feminist folk horror that will literally make your skin crawl - it's replete with skittering insects and creeping forest figures
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