The Corpses We Planted

WINNER OF THE AUGUST PRIZE

Gleefully sacrilegious and deliciously disturbing – a mordant tale of mothers and daughters, revenge and escape...

‘It has been said of our village that there are perverts and paedophiles lurking behind every bush. Whatever the truth of that claim, you would have to admit that we turned out rather well.’

Jolly and Peggy were toddlers when their nice normal parents died in a car crash. They were brought by a distant relative to a remote village in southern Sweden and given to strangers to raise. Unfortunately, the strangers in question turned out to be dysfunctional reprobates, and the village in question turned out to be a hotspot for creeps, sadists and psychopaths.

Growing up in this regrettable predicament, the sisters spend their time hanging around the mobile library, pestering the parish priest and befriending local oddballs – much to the frustration of their foster mother, Jenni. Jenni is far from a model parent but she is determined to protect her girls from the many sinister weirdos lurking in their local ‘community’. She herself was raised to understand that women suffer at the hands of men and to accept that fate as immutable. But when a grisly double murder is discovered in the village, the culprit unidentified and still at large, Jenni decides that enough is enough. She must take matters into her own hands…

Perfect for fans of Olga Tokarczuk, Fernanda Melchor and Ottessa Moshfegh, The Corpses We Planted is a pitch-black comedy about misogyny, class, and the worst thing you can do in an area of outstanding natural beauty.