Published 28/08/2025 | Hardback,
Description:
The International Bestseller’Just stellar – extreme, uncanny and beautifully controlled’ – Anne Enright, author of The Wren, The Wren’These stories are perfect for the times we dwell inside’ – Colum McCann, author of ApeirogonThe strange and explosive new collection from the incomparable imagination of Samanta Schweblin, a master of the short story. A gripping blend of the raw, the astonishing and the tragic, every story is as perfectly unexpected as a snare: tightly, exquisitely wound, ready to snap at a touch.
Here, a young father is haunted by the consequences of a moment of distraction; tragedy is complicated by the inexplicable appearance of an injured horse; an attempted poisoning leads two writers to startling conclusions; a lonely woman’s charity is rewarded with home-invasion. And in the shocking opening story, a mother surfaces from the depths of the lake behind her house, where she saw something awful yet alluring.
Guilt, grief and relationships severed permeate this mesmerizing collection – but so do unspeakable bonds of family, love and longing, each sinister and beautiful. Step by step these unnerving stories lure us into the shadows to confront the monsters of everyday life – ourselves.
‘No one writes like Samanta Schweblin’ – Lorrie Moore, author of I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home

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One small voice
A Wild & True Relation : A 'remarkable' (Hilary Mantel) feminist adventure story of smuggling and myth-making
The World and All That It Holds
Paris Requiem : From the Winner of the HWA Gold Crown for Best Historical Fiction
The Puzzle Wood : The mesmerising new dark tale from the author of the Sunday Times bestseller, The Leviathan
What July Knew : If you liked ELIZABETH IS MISSING, you'll LOVE this
Fling : the must read rom-com for fans of Marian Keyes and Beth O'Leary
The Poison Machine
A Bitter Remedy : A totally compelling historical mystery
The Running Grave : Cormoran Strike Book 7
The Witching Tide : The powerful and gripping debut novel for readers of Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel
The Heroines : The instant Sunday Times bestseller
Queer Square Mile : Queer Short Stories from Wales
Cursed Bread : Longlisted for the Women's Prize


