Rottenheart

"Feed this directly into my veins." -Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author From the bestselling author of Hungerstone, an intoxicating and chilling gothic horror novel that reimagines Hamlet with a seductive sapphic twist-and where the only thing more dangerous than a family secret is a mother's revenge. Revenge me. For I am murdered . . . Odette and her best friend, Cecilia, grow up between two grand homes, one in Hampstead and one in Suffolk, the ancient and imposing Herne House. Odette's mother, Lydia, is almost parasitic in her neediness, but despite her, Odette and Cecilia come of age together-free to roam, to learn, and to love. When Lydia inexplicably sickens and dies, a dark veil falls. Odette's father retreats to his study, while her aunt-the cold and cruel Claudine-increasingly takes charge of the household. Lost in grief and spiraling into madness, Odette disappears into the shadows, leaving Cecilia alone and with her affections tested. As Claudine is announced as Odette's new stepmother, the girls reckon with this final betrayal, and a sinister presence awakens. To her horror, Odette realizes that her mother never truly left. She now haunts the manor, ready to drag long- held secrets into the light and exact revenge against those who thought her dead and gone. A visceral tale of grief and madness, Rottenheart exhumes the heart of Hamlet to tell a fearless queer love story laced with an unforgettable haunting, asking whether we can truly outrun our suffering, or if we are forever indebted to the vengeful dead.

Kat Dunn is the Lambda Award-winning and nationally bestselling author of Hungerstone. She has a BA in Japanese from SOAS and an MA in English from Warwick, has written about mental health for Mind, and worked as a translator for Japanese television. Kat grew up in London and has lived in Japan, Australia, and France.