This book reminded me of Mrs Dalloway or Mrs Bridge… but then it became dark, unsettling and by the end it was downright disturbing. I thought the symbolism was heavy-handed, yet the book is undeniably an engrossing read with strong messages. The writing style is excellent and very original.
Told in the third person, the story follows Mrs March (I don’t know if the choice of name is meant to remind you of Mrs March, the perfect mother in Little Women), who lives a luxurious yet unhappy existence. Her husband George has just published his latest novel, which is a smash hit but it appears that he based the main character, an ugly pitiable prostitute, on her. At the same time, there is an unsolved murder of a young woman. The suspicion, jealousy and humiliation pent up inside Mrs March start to break out. She needs to discover the truth about her husband, while accepting the truth about herself.
The marketing of this book is a bit odd. It has been compared to My Sister, the Serial Killer but isn’t really the same kind of read. I have seen it described as a comedy, which it isn’t – some dark humour is there, to be sure, but it’s not a funny book, it’s horrifying – not just in a conventional sense but from a mental health perspective. And I wouldn’t describe it as a ‘gothic thriller’ either. One critic even called the book ‘delicious’ when it actually includes disgusting images of decay, insects, body fluids, etc. I do recommend the book, but be warned, it’s more disturbing than the reviews suggest.
Published in 2021.
I would read this book for the cover alone! Your review was intriguing, too.
It’s a great cover 🙂 I have seen another cover, maybe it’s the American one, which isn’t as good.
I’m definitely intrigued!
I would recommend it to you 🙂
That’s an amazing cover, though. Great review💜
Very eye-catching! Thanks 🙂
This one sounds like something I would read! I too have seen some odd marketing for books… can’t see a valid reason behind this as a reader, once they read said book, will probably react negatively feeling misled (at best)
It tends to happen for books categorised as literary fiction, I find – which isn’t a genre, but a market. The closest genre would be psychological fiction or women’s fiction maybe. I didn’t read the praise before reading this book, I was attracted by the cover and the fact that I’d been seeing it all over the book blogs/social media – it appeared on the library catalogue and I was intrigued by the sample first few pages.
It sounds like this book is difficult to classify into a specific box, which can only be a good thing. I like the cover as well, but don’t know if it fits with the style of the content.
Yes you’re right! The cover is good, possibly not that indicative of the horror aspect of the story but it does fit well with the perfection expected of women and the cockroach is a symbol in the book.