Carrion Crow

A powerful and spine-tingling gothic tale exploring mother-daughter relationships, sexuality, and class.


âAs mesmerizing as it is surreal, Carrion Crow is a haunting gothic tapestryâ Lucy Rose, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamb

âOne of the best books I''ve read this year! ⦠I loved itâ Julia Armfield, author of Private Rites and Our Wives Under The Sea

âA gruesome, provocative, stylish fairytale.... A true Gothic gemâ Kaliane Bradley, bestselling author of The Ministry of Time


There are some facts about the world that only your mother can teach you.
Marguerite had been confined for the sake of her wellbeing.
Thatâs what her mother had said.

Marguerite P©rigord is locked in the attic of her family home, a towering Chelsea house overlooking the stinking Thames.

For company she has a sewing machine, Mrs Beetonâs Book of Household Management and a carrion crow who has come to nest in the rafters. Restless, she spends her waning energies on the fascinations of her own body, memorising Mrs Beetonâs advice and longing for her life outside.

C©cile P©rigord has confined her daughter Marguerite for her own good.

C©cile is concerned that Margueriteâs engagement to a much older, near-penniless solicitor, will drag the family name â" her husbandâs name, that is â" into disrepute. And for C©cile, who has worked hard at her own betterment, this simply wonât do.

C©cileâs life has taught her that no matter how high a woman climbs she can just as readily fall.

Of course, both have their secrets, intentions and histories to hide. As Margueriteâs patience turns into rage, the boundaries of her mind and body start to fray.

And neither woman can recognise what the other is becoming.


Praise for Carrion Crow:

âOne of the most important new voices in fiction, with Carrion Crow Heather Parry deduces an unutterable Gothic horror of class and gender... magnificent and devastatingâ Alan Moore, award-winning author of Watchman and V for Vendetta

âGrizzly, compelling, and utterly claustrophobicâ Heather Darwent, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Things We Do to Our Friends

âBeautifully written with such dark, claustrophobic precision, exploring the devastating control we assert upon one another. Such an achievement.â Rachelle Atalla, award-winning author of The Pharmacist

âDelicate, deftly written and enticingly obscene, Carrion Crow will captivate you from the first sentence and haunt you long after the story ends. I''ve never read anything quite like itâ Jan Carson, prize-winning author of The Raptures