From a wartime brothel to the intricate high society of 1870s Brussels, Under the Poppy is a breakout novel of childhood friends, a love triangle, puppetmasters, and reluctant spies.
Under the Poppy is a brothel owned by Decca and Rupert. Decca is in love with Rupert, but he in turn is in love with her brother, Istvan. When Istvan comes to town, louche puppet troupe in tow, the lines of their age-old desires intersect against a backdrop of approaching war. Hearts are broken when old betrayals and new alliances?not just their own?take shape, as the townsmen seek refuge from the onslaught of history by watching the girls of the Poppy cavort onstage with Istvan's naughty puppets . . .
Under the Poppy is a vivid, sexy, historical novel that zips along like the best guilty pleasure.
Nominated for the IMPAC Award. Winner of the Gaylactic Spectrum Award.
Kathe Koja's (underthepoppy.com) books include The Cipher, Skin, and Extremities; her young adult novels include Buddha Boy, Talk, Kissing the Bee, and Headlong. Her work has been honored by the ALA, the ASPCA, and with the Bram Stoker Award. Her books have been published in seven languages and optioned for film. She's a Detroit native and lives in the area with her husband, artist Rick Lieder, and their cats. Under the Poppy is currently being adapted for the stage.
Industry Reviews
"The brothel of Kathe Koja's "Under the Poppy" requires no time and space coordinates. It is a fictional universe unto itself--rich and bawdy and violent and sad, with a beating human heart underneath. I love Koja's daring and flair."
--Louis Bayard, author of "The Black Tower"
"Koja can pack a lot Dickensian humor into a sentence . . . [she] takes a page from Victorian lit in her writerliness, and she reveals human nature like someone slipped her the manual."
--"Cleveland Plain Dealer"
"This book made me drunk. Koja's language is at its poetic best, and the epic drama had me digging my nails into my palms. It's like a Tom Waits hurdy-gurdy loser's lament come to life, as sinister as a dark circus."
--Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
"Unlike anything I've ever read, a world unto itself, spun out of fevered, sensual prose and vivid, compelling characters."
--Lewis Shiner
"A gothic, glam-rock take on love and sex and death that reads a little like what would happen if Sarah Waters and Angela Carter played a drunken game of Exquisite Corpse in a brothel . . . will make you want to get out your very finest crushed velvet, drink a couple bottles of wine, and do something a little bit illegal with someone very good-looking. In other words, it's a winner."
--Tor.com
"All the elements of a great novel are present in Koja's work: from suspense and intrigue to undying love and toxic jealousies, this highly developed read is brimming with imaginative flair and originality."
--Lambda Literary
"People will probably love this book or hate it-possibly both. But let me just say that it would take an author of extraordinary talent to open with a scene of a woman being sodomized by a ventriloquist's dummy and make me want to keep reading. And Kathe Koja is that talented. Five stars."
--Speak Its Name
"The velvet and brocade, the rips and tears, the music and theater, you see it all as you read about what the denizens of t
