Timed for Halloween season, Franck Bouysse’s Born of No Woman (Other Press Paperback Original, On Sale: October 19, 2021) is at once an astounding work of gothic horror, an indictment of class and power divides, and an examination of the limits of forgiveness and familial love. It follows Rose, sold by her father to a stranger before her fifteenth birthday. In her new home and with her new, cruel 'master,' she starts to realize that she's been put at the center of a twisted plan. Perfect for fans of Rebecca and Flowers in the Attic, the novel is driven by a gripping sense of dread that culminates in a satisfying conclusion. Born of No Woman garnered high praise and literary awards when originally published in France, including the Elle Readers’ Grand Prize, the Booksellers’ Prize, and the Prix Babelio. At her new home, a vast castle in the middle of the woods, Rose is forced to cook and clean for 'master,' his elderly mother and a mysteriously absent wife. Soon the depraved natures of Rose’s capturers come to light in a horrifying act of violence. Fighting with an inner strength she didn’t know she possessed, Rose tries to piece together her new reality, and find a way to flee.
Bouysse’s incredible gift for prose will have readers enduring everything alongside Rose: the brutality at the hands of her capturers, her escape attempts, and, eventually, her years at an insane asylum. At its core, Born of No Woman is an exploration of humankind's most basic instincts - to survive, to reproduce, to protect one’s kin - and why they bring out compassion in some but barbarity in others. It asks, when evil is inevitably done, how should blame be shared between the perpetrators, and the ones who stand idly by?
As Bouysse navigates the complexities of desire, abuse, compassion, and resilience for these peasants and their masters in 19th-century France, he has penned a timeless portrait of human nature left to fester unseen.
