She Made Herself A Monster

This exciting, gorgeous novel reminded me why I love vampire stories. Rooted in folklore and peopled with characters who are hauntingly real, She Made Herself a Monster never looks away from the consequences of burying humanity's evils too shallow and too near. I still have chills. -- Kate Heartfield, author of THE EMBROIDERED BOOK With this tale of dark secrets, unnatural lusts and hidden violence, Anna Kovatcheva confirms that the most fearsome monsters lie not beyond our thresholds but within our homes and communities. Sometimes the place of greatest safety is out there in the dark unknown. -- Annie Garthwaite, author of CECILY Poetic, visceral, dark, Kovatcheva captures the monstrous in both the mythical and the mundane. A terrifying read that will leave you looking over your shoulder long after you finish reading -- Isabelle Schuler, author of LADY MACBETHAD Exquisite: atmospheric, startling, and beautiful. An enthralling story, with brilliantly complex characters and a fabulously claustrophobic setting -- Naomi Kelsey, author of THE BURNINGS Gorgeous and gruesome, pulses with folklore and reads like the best literary fiction -- Julia Fine As a longtime fan of Anna Kovatcheva’s shorter fiction, this deliciously dark debut novel delivers the same dreamlike prose I’ve come to admire, but digs far deeper into labyrinths of belief, desperation, and illusions of necessity. By turns horrific, atmospheric, and tender, this is a spell book that practices the best kind of magic—revealing the monsters embedded within and around us -- Sequoia Nagamatsu A poetic exploration of the power of stories. Inspired by Slavic folklore, the novel uses lyrical prose, realistically drawn characters, and multiple points of view to expose the monsters created to make sense of the shadows * Library Journal *