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Our Monstrous Bodies

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What to expect

'Glitters with menace' LUCY ROSE

'Visceral and affecting' EMMA VAN STRAATEN

‘Hypnotic and deeply unsettling… both tender and terrifying’ CELIA SILVANI

'Utterly unique, experimental and, simultaneously, a page-turner with the sly, creeping pace of a horror film' HEATHER O'NEILL

An extraordinary literary horror debut from a rising star.

My eyes snapped open and I saw something else in the mirror, something else that wasn’t me…

In the wake of an ill-omened romance with a horror cinephile, Brooke arrives in Vancouver to care for her sister, Izzy, who is facing reproductive surgery. But Izzy’s rapidly decaying apartment building, its hallways stalked by an ominous crone known only as Medusa, offers little refuge to the sisters.

Seeking solace in the films her ex-girlfriend loved, Brooke soon finds traces of horror bleeding from the screen into her life. Old wounds reopen and new frictions surface, and when Brooke begins to exhibit strange symptoms of her own, Izzy’s concern spirals into obsession. The line between self and sister blurs until only one question remains: who, or what, will survive when all unravels?

Through the dual lenses of art and horror cinema, Emma Cleary brilliantly dissects loneliness, motherhood and the body’s threatened autonomy. Eerie and threaded with yearning, Our Monstrous Bodies is a haunting literary debut that blooms with the dark desires we suppress or to which we surrender.

Critics Review

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'Our Monstrous Bodies is feral and mesmerising. It’s a novel that glitters with menace. Emma Cleary is a startling writer, and this is a completely unforgettable and uncanny debut' LUCY ROSE, author of The Lamb

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'Contemplative, immersive, intelligent horror… visceral and affecting' EMMA VAN STRAATEN, author of This Immaculate Body

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‘Hypnotic and deeply unsettling, this remarkable debut moves with the deliberate, controlled tension of classic cinema. Cleary maps the changing female body – its ruptures, its resilience, its monstrous potential – with a precision that is both tender and terrifying’ Celia Silvani, author of Baby Teeth

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'Haunting, propulsive and beautifully crafted. Emma Cleary carves out a world that is in equal measures horrifying and human, and takes us deep into the belly of longing to unearth the monsters inside ourselves' Ahana Virdi, author of Sour Fruit

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'A lyrical, surreal and deeply profound exploration of the relationship between women and their reproductive bodies. At once horrific and beautiful, the bodies of the women in Cleary’s world transgress their physical boundaries and begin to impregnate one another with monsters. The empathy and connection between women and sisters are revealed to be at once intimate and violent. Cleary’s debut is a metaphysical triumph that shines a light on the supernatural forces that dwell in the deepest recesses of women’s bodies. Utterly unique, experimental and, simultaneously, a page-turner with the sly, creeping pace of a horror film' HEATHER O'NEILL

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