From the bestselling author of The Lamb comes a queer coming-of-age folktale set over one strange summer in a decaying caravan park by the sea.
For readers of Julia Armfield, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Shirley Jackson, this second novel by the bestselling, award-winning author of The Lamb is a wondrously original folktale with elements of both sweetness and horror about a trio of outcasts who grasp for love, belonging, and freedom in a crumbling former caravan park by the sea.
Village is all Mona has ever known.
Nineteen years old, she lives with her Da in a decaying caravan park on a salt-bitten stretch of coast, working shifts at the chippie and trying not to give him a reason to be angry.
But Mona has never worn girlhood easily, and when Ingrid arrives next door, with a sirenic power and an eel writhing on her desk, the strange currents of their connection expand Mona’s world beyond anything Village has imagined for her.
In the feverish summer heat, old stories begin to wash ashore – and soon Mona must choose between the safety of belonging and the risk of becoming herself.
Wild, elemental and darkly hypnotic, Slipskin is a queer coming-of-age folktale about the changing shapes of desire and belonging, from the bestselling and beloved author of The Lamb.
‘I am haunted by Slipskin. It is a full body experience: a queasy, tender, sick, beautiful coming-of-age story. Lucy Rose has moulded a grimy, perfect novel as visceral, muscular and enigmatic as an eel.’ — Emma Van Straaten, author of This Immaculate Body
‘Slipskin is a dark incantation of a novel. Wielding talismans of fish hooks, eels and sickly-sweet decay, Rose has conjured a tender, terrifying fable of our need to be needed. Lucy Rose is a writer of rare and dangerous gifts.’ — Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal
‘A nuanced, confronting and stunning meditation on hunger and neglect, grief and belonging. Slipskin is soaked in atmosphere, delicious tension and deeply unnerving power play.’ — Charlotte Paradise, author of Overspill
‘A folktale dragged from the briny depths, surging with grief, desire and the undeniable power of truth. Rose’s talent is a mighty, cresting wave.’ — Amy Twigg, author of Spoilt Creatures and Milk, Bread, Teeth.
‘Lucy Rose is a writer like no other and Slipskin is the perfect testament to that. Sexy, slimy, sticky, and shimmering, Slipskin is a folktale for our times that is as beguiling as it is heartbreaking.’ — Jessie Elland, author The Ladie Upstairs and Lament
‘There is such pleasure in Lucy Rose’s prose. Slipskin felt like coming home to a place I had never been. I didn’t want to leave. A salt-licked folktale for the ages.’ — Dawn Kurtagich, author of The Madness and The Thorns
Translation information
Coming soon.
