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The Unmothers

A Novel

Author Leslie J. Anderson
Ebook (EPUB)
Quirk Books
On sale Aug 06, 2024 | 320 Pages | 9781683694304
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“An impressive debut, an intricate and unsettling narrative about desperation that is full of stellar writing.”—Gabino Iglesias, New York Times

In 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.

Marshall 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, human baby boy.

When 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.

As 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?

Unbearably tense and utterly gripping, this atmospheric tale of female rage, bodily autonomy, and generational trauma hails the arrival of a masterful storyteller.
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.
     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.
     Something had been born, unexpected, the salt of the sea in its lungs. It screamed and screamed and it lived.
Copyright © 2024 by Leslie J. Anderson. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
A New York Times Best Horror Fiction Book of 2024
An August 2024 Indie Next List Pick
One of Paste magazine’s Most Anticipated Horror Books of Summer 2024

“An impressive debut, an intricate and unsettling narrative about desperation that is full of stellar writing.”—Gabino Iglesias, New York Times

“[The Unmothers] is a triumph of folk horror that will gratify lovers of Midsommar and The Handmaid’s Tale.”—Jennifer Embree, Library Journal, starred review

“Debut author Anderson crafts a truly unsettling gothic horror story. Horror fans will be rattled.”—Publishers Weekly

“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.”—Boing Boing

“Desolate, heartrending, and genuinely scary.”—Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt

“The Unmothers 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 The Echo Wife and Just Like Home

“At the crossroads of True Detective and Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder, this equine Wicker Man manifests a mood equal parts majestic and terrifying, tragic and sublime.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

“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. The Unmothers is riveting; the evil it depicts is insidious and real.”—Anne Heltzel, author of Just Like Mother

“The Unmothers is a grimly beautiful novel about the terrifying collective power of women’s sublimated hope, grief, and rage.”—Emily C. Hughes, author of Horror for Weenies and former editor of TorNightfire.com

“The Unmothers is brilliant. It is beautiful, heartbreaking, terrifying, and sharply intelligent.”—Sam Rebelein, author of Edenville

“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 Road Out of Winter and Trashlands

“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 Bride of the Tornado and Dare to Know

“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, The Unmothers is a masterpiece in slow-dripping tension that had me desperately turning the pages long into the night.”—Josh Winning, author of Heads Will Roll

“Those who enjoy horror with feminist themes will fall easily into The Unmothers.”—Amanda Mullen, ScreenRant
Leslie J. Anderson has spent much of her life riding, training, and caring for horses. Her collection of poetry, An Inheritance of Stone, 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.
Leslie J. Anderson View titles by Leslie J. Anderson

About

“An impressive debut, an intricate and unsettling narrative about desperation that is full of stellar writing.”—Gabino Iglesias, New York Times

In 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.

Marshall 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, human baby boy.

When 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.

As 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?

Unbearably tense and utterly gripping, this atmospheric tale of female rage, bodily autonomy, and generational trauma hails the arrival of a masterful storyteller.

Excerpt

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.
     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.
     Something had been born, unexpected, the salt of the sea in its lungs. It screamed and screamed and it lived.
Copyright © 2024 by Leslie J. Anderson. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Reviews

A New York Times Best Horror Fiction Book of 2024
An August 2024 Indie Next List Pick
One of Paste magazine’s Most Anticipated Horror Books of Summer 2024

“An impressive debut, an intricate and unsettling narrative about desperation that is full of stellar writing.”—Gabino Iglesias, New York Times

“[The Unmothers] is a triumph of folk horror that will gratify lovers of Midsommar and The Handmaid’s Tale.”—Jennifer Embree, Library Journal, starred review

“Debut author Anderson crafts a truly unsettling gothic horror story. Horror fans will be rattled.”—Publishers Weekly

“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.”—Boing Boing

“Desolate, heartrending, and genuinely scary.”—Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt

“The Unmothers 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 The Echo Wife and Just Like Home

“At the crossroads of True Detective and Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder, this equine Wicker Man manifests a mood equal parts majestic and terrifying, tragic and sublime.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

“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. The Unmothers is riveting; the evil it depicts is insidious and real.”—Anne Heltzel, author of Just Like Mother

“The Unmothers is a grimly beautiful novel about the terrifying collective power of women’s sublimated hope, grief, and rage.”—Emily C. Hughes, author of Horror for Weenies and former editor of TorNightfire.com

“The Unmothers is brilliant. It is beautiful, heartbreaking, terrifying, and sharply intelligent.”—Sam Rebelein, author of Edenville

“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 Road Out of Winter and Trashlands

“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 Bride of the Tornado and Dare to Know

“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, The Unmothers is a masterpiece in slow-dripping tension that had me desperately turning the pages long into the night.”—Josh Winning, author of Heads Will Roll

“Those who enjoy horror with feminist themes will fall easily into The Unmothers.”—Amanda Mullen, ScreenRant

Author

Leslie J. Anderson has spent much of her life riding, training, and caring for horses. Her collection of poetry, An Inheritance of Stone, 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.
Leslie J. Anderson View titles by Leslie J. Anderson

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