The Decadence

An unnerving novel of debauchery, drugs and desire

By: Leon Craig

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Hardcover | 25 September 2025 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
14.5 x 22.3 x 2.9

Hardcover

RRP $49.99

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'Lush, complex, and close to the bone, The Decadence filled me with horror in the best way'

Krystelle Bamford, author of Idle Grounds

'A genuinely creepy and evocative contemporary ghost story . . . this novel intrigues and unsettles'

Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti
'An exquisitely claustrophobic exploration of the places we do and don't belong... This is a triumph of the queer gothic'

Jane Flett, author of Freakslaw

At the height of lockdown, a group of flailing twenty-something friends makes an illicit break for freedom.

A grand country house stands empty. Once the home of Theo's great uncle, it seems like the perfect place to get high and hang out in the spring sunshine, as they eschew adult responsibilities.

Since meeting as teenagers, rifts have grown amongst the group. Even as they are determined to enjoy themselves, tensions cast shadows between them - politics, sex and lies. The house, too, has its own dark history and exudes a palpable sense of menace.

Where do the drugs end and the supernatural begin? Will anger and jealousy tear the friends apart, or will it be more ominous forces? Their stay at Holt House will change them all...

'The Decadence is both a deeply unnerving read and a sly commentary on the skeletons in Britain's closet'

Victoria Gosling, author of Bliss & Blunder

'Lush, sinister, and blackly funny ... Rich, intelligent prose underpins delicate exploration of some of our most profound moral quandaries'

Kate Collins, author of A Good House for Children

'Layered, observant and genre-bending, The Decadence is darkly funny and aware of the complexities of modern friendship'

Timothy Ogene, author of Seesaw

Industry Reviews

The Decadence is an exquisitely claustrophobic exploration of the places we do and don't belong. Sequestered in a pressure cooker of hedonistic excess, the horror creeps in insidiously - from the first tendrils of unease to the final horrible denouement. This is a triumph of the queer gothic

Lush, complex, and close to the bone, The Decadence filled me with horror in the best way - the horror of a classic haunted house tale, but also the horror of your twenties, with all its dead-ends, debauchery, self-doubt, and longing

The Decadence's group of late twenty-somethings bicker, seethe and hard party their way through a genuinely creepy and evocative contemporary ghost story which weaves together queerness, lockdown flouting, and the malevolent inheritances of history with deftness and aplomb. Leon Craig has a keen eye for observation and a very dark and distinctive imagination and this novel intrigues and unsettles

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