Rottenheart

Rottenheart Synopsis

THE UNMISSABLE NEW SAPPHIC GOTHIC HORROR NOVEL FROM KAT DUNN, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF HUNGERSTONE AND BITTERTHORN

'Feed this directly into my veins' TAYLOR JENKINS REID

'A darkly intoxicating and fierce sapphic retelling of Hamlet. Extraordinary' LUCY ROSE, author of The Lamb

Revenge me. For I am murdered . . .

Odette and Cecilia are young women, living between their grand homes in Hampstead and the imposing, ancient Herne House in Suffolk. Though Odette's artist mother Lydia keeps a tight grasp on her, she and her beloved Cecilia are mostly left free to roam, to learn and to love.

But when Lydia inexplicably sickens and dies, a dark veil falls. As the funeral rites are performed, Odette's aunt, the cold and implacable Claudine, increasingly takes charge of the household, while her father retreats to his study. Odette, lost in grief, disappears into the shadows.

But as Claudine is announced as Odette's new stepmother, a sinister presence in the house makes itself known. To her horror, Odette realises that despite her death, Lydia never really left. And now she wants revenge . . .

Inspired by Hamlet, the ultimate revenge tragedy, Rottenheart is the stunning new sapphic gothic horror novel from Kat Dunn, the lauded author of Hungerstone and Bitterthorn. Set in the 1890s, this a story of love and grief, mothers and daughters, death and madness.

Further praise for ROTTENHEART

'Sinister and devastating. I want to read it again and again and again' BEA FITZGERALD

'A darkly intoxicating, sinister story shot through with beautiful and delicate sapphic yearning. Hauntingly brilliant' JENNIFER SAINT

'Dunn's retelling of Hamlet turns the lights on the psychological horror of the story. A gripping tale of grief and love, splendid with detail and completely transporting' SARVAT HASIN, author of The Giant Dark

'A gut-wrenching and lavishly written sapphic reimagining of Shakespeare's Hamlet . . . A close to the bone portrait of human cruelty, of our maddening obligation to our parents, and of loving someone whose capacity to hurt us is so primal not even death can limit it' LEIGH RADFORD, author of One Yellow Eye

'Dark and twisty and full of excruciatingly delicious sapphic longing. A haunting tale that kept me hooked right to the very last word' AHANA VIRDI, author of Sour Fruit

'A dark, sensual delight' HEAT, Book of the Week