The Unmothers

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What to expect

In this emotionally raw and propulsive folk horror-mystery, a journalist goes to a small town and unravels a dark secret that the women have been keeping for generations.

Marshall is still trying to put the pieces together after the death of her husband. After she is involved in a terrible accident, her editor sends her to the small, backwards town of Raeford to investigate a clearly ridiculous rumor: that a horse has given birth to a healthy, human baby boy.

When Marshall arrives in Raeford, she finds an insular town that is kinder to the horses they are famous for breeding than to their own people. But when two horribly mangled bodies are discovered in a field—one a horse, one a human—she realizes that there might be a real story here.

As she’s pulled deeper into the town and its guarded people, her sense of reality is tipped on its head. Is she losing her grip? Or is this impossible story the key to a dark secret that has haunted the women of Raeford for generations?

Unbearably tense and utterly gripping, this atmospheric tale of female rage, bodily autonomy, and generational trauma hails the arrival of a masterful storyteller.

Critics Review

“Terrifying in its beauty, horror, and power, this is a breathless read and a groundbreaking debut. You will never forget its dark spell.”

Alison Stine, Philip K. Dick Award–winning author

“A grimly beautiful novel about the terrifying collective power of women’s sublimated hope, grief, and rage…This is folk horror for a forgotten America.”

Emily C. Hughes, author of Horror for Weenies and former editor of TorNightfire.com

“[A] story about the terrifying ways people cling to—and weaponize—belief systems…You will easily fall captive to the eerie town of Raeford and its monsters.”

Anne Heltzel, author of Just Like Mother

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