Black Sheep

A Horror Novel by Rachel Harrison

Subgenres:

Religious Horror,
Family Secrets,
Psychological Horror

Published 2023

Length 302 pages

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Irreverent horror about toxic religious families and dark secrets
Mind games and family guilt that spiral into sinister territory
Heroines confronting ice queen mothers and their own crisis of faith

From Little Stack

From the start, Harrison toys with your assumptions only to rip them away in the most devious way possible. We know Vesper escaped her religious community at eighteen. She shouldn’t be allowed back. So why did her cousin invite her to a wedding?

It’s a roller coaster ride of mind games, family guilt, and toxic beliefs, all aimed at forcing Vesper to behave the way they want. And when she’s finally had enough, it escalates into a finale that bangs a devilishly wicked tune of empowerment all the way to the end.

As Featured in Women Reclaim Their Power in These 7 Horror Novels by Jena Brown

Publisher Description

A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.

Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return.

But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep. Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.

When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.

More Rachel Harrison

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