The Girl from Rawblood
A Novel
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3.9 • 25 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
"An impressively hectic spin on the Gothic tradition"—Telegraph
The winner of BEST HORROR NOVEL at the British Fantasy Awards by the author of The House on Needless Street!
What if it's not your mansion that's haunted—it's you?
Young Iris Villarca is the last of her family's line. They are haunted by "her," a curse passed down through the generations that marks each Villarca for certain heartbreak and death. For generations, the Villarcas have died young, under mysterious circumstances.
But Iris dares to fall in love, and the consequences of her choice are immediate and terrifying. As the world falls apart around her, she must take a final journey back to Rawblood where it all began, and where it must all end…
Perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson, Susan Hill, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Girl from Rawblood will pull readers through time into the early 1800s and 1900s, mesmerizing them with this lyrical story of cunning folk horror right until the breathtaking finish.
Praise for The Girl from Rawblood:
"Superb debut....Ward perfectly balances sensory richness with the chills of the uncanny."
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"The Girl from Rawblood makes a powerful contribution to the British literature of the fantastic…There's a touch of Ted Hughes here, Emily Bronte and M.R James in this eerie and by turns moving story that spans generations…A definite book of the year for me."
—Adam Nevill, award-winning author of The Ritual and No One Gets Out Alive
"The Girl from Rawblood weaves a spell that both terrifies and mesmerizes. As each layer of mystery is peeled away, more haunting truth is revealed. The book leaves the reader breathless in its gothic tale of fear, family, blood, and love."
—Simone St. James, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Born in England in 1899, Iris Villarca, the principal narrator of Ward's superb debut, grows up without human company, except for Tom Gilmore, a farmer's son with whom she forms a secret bond, and her father, Alonso, the only other surviving Villarca. She believes that a rare disease necessitates their seclusion at Rawblood, their Dartmoor estate, but as she matures, Alonso reveals the truth: isolation is the only way to save Iris from a ghostly presence that destroys the Villarcas when they fall in love, marry, or have children. As WWI begins, Iris violates her father's interdictions with horrific repercussions for both of them. A flashback to 1881, related by Charles Danforth, a doctor privy to Alonso's complex past, reveals other horrors. Later, new viewpoints, spanning the years from 1839 to 1919, focus on the family's women as each negotiates the powerlessness of her situation and time. Sharply evoked particulars Devon's landscape and period medical science emerge with special vividness help root the spectral phenomena. Ward perfectly balances sensory richness with the chills of the uncanny.
