{"product_id":"the-unmothers-isbn-9781683694298","title":"The Unmothers","description":"\u003cb\u003e“An impressive debut, an intricate and unsettling narrative about desperation that is full of stellar writing.”—Gabino Iglesias, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this raw and lyrical folk horror novel, a journalist sent to a small town begins to unravel a dark secret that the women of the town have been keeping for generations.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarshall 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, \u003ci\u003ehuman\u003c\/i\u003e baby boy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs 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?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnbearably tense and utterly gripping, this atmospheric tale of female rage, bodily autonomy, and generational trauma hails the arrival of a masterful storyteller.\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eBest Horror Fiction Book of 2024\u003cbr\u003eAn August 2024 Indie Next List Pick\u003cbr\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003ePaste\u003c\/i\u003e magazine’s Most Anticipated Horror Books of Summer 2024\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An impressive debut, an intricate and unsettling narrative about desperation that is full of stellar writing.”—Gabino Iglesias, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe Unmothers\u003c\/i\u003e] is a triumph of folk horror that will gratify lovers of \u003ci\u003eMidsommar\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Handmaid’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e.”—Jennifer Embree, \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Debut author Anderson crafts a truly unsettling gothic horror story. Horror fans will be rattled.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A gripping, grounded yarn about the forgotten corners of the country, the pains of pregnancy and motherhood, and, yes, the raw, majestic beauty of horses.”—\u003ci\u003eBoing Boing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Desolate, heartrending, and genuinely scary.”—Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of \u003ci\u003eManhunt \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Unmothers\u003c\/i\u003e is exquisite and haunting in equal measure. . . . Nauseatingly tense and crushingly insightful. This book represents an absolutely vital entry into the horror canon.”—Sarah Gailey, nationally best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Echo Wife\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eJust Like Home\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“At the crossroads of \u003ci\u003eTrue Detective\u003c\/i\u003e and Emma Donoghue’s \u003ci\u003eThe Wonder\u003c\/i\u003e, this equine \u003ci\u003eWicker Man\u003c\/i\u003e manifests a mood equal parts majestic and terrifying, tragic and sublime.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of \u003ci\u003eWhat Kind of Mother\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eGhost Eaters\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Leslie Anderson writes with searing honesty and a palpable compassion for her characters in this story about the terrifying ways people cling to—and weaponize—belief systems. \u003ci\u003eThe Unmothers\u003c\/i\u003e is riveting; the evil it depicts is insidious and real.”—Anne Heltzel, author of \u003ci\u003eJust Like Mother\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Unmothers\u003c\/i\u003e is a grimly beautiful novel about the terrifying collective power of women’s sublimated hope, grief, and rage.”—Emily C. Hughes, author of \u003ci\u003eHorror for Weenies\u003c\/i\u003e and former editor of TorNightfire.com\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Unmothers\u003c\/i\u003e is brilliant. It is beautiful, heartbreaking, terrifying, and sharply intelligent.”—Sam Rebelein, author of \u003ci\u003eEdenville \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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 of\u003ci\u003e Road Out of Winter\u003c\/i\u003e and\u003ci\u003e Trashlands\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Haunting. Anderson’s deft debut fuses intriguing small-town mystery, disturbing horror, and a supernatural horse cult into an urgent and original tale.”—James Kennedy, author of \u003ci\u003eBride of the Tornado\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDare to Know\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Absolutely stunning. Leslie J. Anderson arrives on the horror scene with an atmospheric folk tale brimming with horrors both real-world and horrifyingly ‘other.’ With its flawed, fascinating characters and eerie, brooding mood, \u003ci\u003eThe Unmothers\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterpiece in slow-dripping tension that had me desperately turning the pages long into the night.”—Josh Winning, author of \u003ci\u003eHeads Will Roll\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Those who enjoy horror with feminist themes will fall easily into \u003ci\u003eThe Unmothers\u003c\/i\u003e.”—Amanda Mullen, \u003ci\u003eScreenRant \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eLeslie J. Anderson\u003c\/b\u003e has spent much of her life riding, training, and caring for horses. Her collection of poetry, \u003ci\u003eAn Inheritance of Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, was nominated for an Elgin award. She has a Creative Writing MA from Ohio University and lives in Ohio with her family. This is her debut novel.Myths about horses begin with the sea, but there is no sea near Raeford. There are small, wandering creeks and the Narrow Bone River, but no sea. So Raeford’s horses must have come from somewhere else, not fighting out of the waves but wandering out of the dark forests, rising from the pine needles, tumbling down like ripe apples from the branches. It was easy to believe, if you stood on one of the sagging porches and looked over the dark pastures and forests, that the place had some of the terrible, pounding magic of the sea. The heartlessness of the sea. Dark creatures hid in the coves and shallows of its wild places like hungry eels stitched into the reefs. The blackness of midnight was heavier there, thicker, and smelled like ozone and decay. It felt like it was on the edge of creation or destruction.\u003cbr\u003e     That was one reason why, on the night of June twenty-first, Agatha Bently’s first reaction when she heard an infant’s cries carry over those fields, through that gloomy miasma, was surprise, and then fury and then resignation. This thing had happened before and would happen again. She rose and pulled on her boots and headed to the barn, where she was needed.\u003cbr\u003e     Something had been born, unexpected, the salt of the sea in its lungs. It screamed and screamed and it lived.","brand":"Quirk Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305101578469,"sku":"NP9781683694298","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781683694298.jpg?v=1767742008","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-unmothers-isbn-9781683694298","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}