The Saw Mouth

Name: The Saw Mouth
Price: 45 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9798217025701

Cale Plett

$45

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

Delacorte Press
10 June 2026

Children's & young adult fiction & true stories

For fans of The Last Bookstore on Earth and Compound Fracture, a heart-pounding rural thriller following a trans teen who survives a near-apocalypse, only to be hunted by a mysterious monster whose very existence is entwined with their own.

From an exciting new voice in the genre, this story is for teens who live under the weight of past generations' mistakes, and are fighting to right them.

For fans of The Last Bookstore on Earth and Compound Fracture, a heart-pounding rural horror following a genderqueer teen who survives a near-apocalypse, only to be hunted by a mysterious monster whose very existence is entwined with their own.

From a breathtaking new voice in YA, this story is for anyone haunted by the sins of past generations-and fighting to right them.

When Cedar was a child, fragmented, tortured souls woke up in the world's most complex machines, destroying them and pushing technology back decades. A fall. The Fall, some said, and they called it Autumn.

Ten years later, following a family tragedy, Cedar moves to the nowhere town of Sawblade Lake only to find something hunting them. A long, bent shadow that reeks like rot and has the mouth of a deep crevice. It's after Cedar, and it's willing to go to any lengths to break them, including preying on Cedar's new queer family.

The closer it circles, the more it seems to weave through Cedar's whole life. It might stretch back to their mother's gruesome, inexplicable death, to the murk of their missing family, to the house they grew up in. Back and back and back to the first day of Autumn.

Cedar thought they understood how their world had changed, but they're far from dredging the bottom.

By: Cale Plett
Imprint: Delacorte Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 474g
ISBN: 9798217025701
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 10 June 2026
Recommended Age: From 12 years
Audience: Children/juvenile , English as a second language
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

CALE PLETT is a nonbinary, gender-fluid writer living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They grew up on a dead-end gravel road and used to get lost in the woods for fun, scary abandoned cabin and all. They are the author of the queer YA romance Wavelength, an Indie Next pick, and The Saw Mouth.

Reviews for The Saw Mouth

Praise for The Saw Mouth: ""Raw, unsettling, and new-bruise tender, The Saw Mouth completely captured me. Plett’s horror debut is a gift to readers looking for the bright heart in the dark.”—Rory Power, New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls ""Powerful, poetic, haunting. Plett imagines a spellbinding world of awakened machines and human resilience.""—Darcie Little Badger, award-winning author of A Snake Falls to Earth ""Grimy, brutal, and brilliant, with a painfully vivid queer cast and a setting so well constructed you can smell the smoke. Plett holds back nothing in this story of fierce love and tested loyalty.""—Matteo L. Cerilli, author of Lockjaw ""More than a horror tale, this is the story of deeply felt connection finding its way through layers of trauma. It’s a story of finding shelter in people, when darkness tries its best to inhabit you. Stunning.""—Tanya Boteju, author of Bruised ★ ""A truly stellar example of the best that horror can be.""—School Library Journal, starred review ""Carefully drawn.""—Kirkus Reviews