Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou
Named a Best Book by Chicago Review of Books, Lithub, GoodReads and Ms. Magazine
A Best Book of Summer by Barnes & Noble
“Harrowing . . . a fairytale for the ages, subverting the tale of Bluebeard to deconstruct the systems of gender, power, and the excuses people make for bad men.” ―Chicago Review of Books
“A murder ballad sung in a dark room―it’s slow, haunting and strangely beautiful.” ―The New York Times Book Review
- Sale Date
- ISBN
- 9781963108194
- Page Count
- 312
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 5½ x 8½
- Imprint
- Tin House
Meet the Author
Natalia Theodoridou
Named a Best Book by Chicago Review of Books, Lithub, GoodReads and Ms. Magazine
A Best Book of Summer by Barnes & Noble
“Harrowing . . . a fairytale for the ages, subverting the tale of Bluebeard to deconstruct the systems of gender, power, and the excuses people make for bad men.” ―Chicago Review of Books
“A murder ballad sung in a dark room―it’s slow, haunting and strangely beautiful.” ―The New York Times Book Review
The tale begins with Agnes. After losing her baby, Agnes is called to the great manor house to nurse the local lord’s baby boy. But something is wrong with the child: his nails grow too fast, his skin smells of soil, and his eyes remind her of the dark forest. As he grows into a boy, then into man, a plague seems to follow him everywhere. Trees wither at the roots, fruits rot on their branches, and the town turns against him. The man takes a wife, who bears him a son. But tragedy strikes in cycles and his family is forced to consider their own malignancy—until wife after wife, death after death, plague after plague, every woman he touches becomes a ghost. The ghosts become a chorus, and they call urgently to our narrator as she tries to explain, in our very real world, exactly what has happened to her. The ghosts can all agree on one thing, an inescapable truth about this man, this powerful lord who has loved them and led them each to ruin: If you leave, you die. But if you die, you stay.
Natalia Theodoridou’s haunting and unforgettable debut novel, Sour Cherry, confronts age-old systems of gender and power, long-held excuses made for bad men, and the complicated reasons we stay captive to the monsters we love.
A Best Book of Summer by Barnes & Noble
“Harrowing . . . a fairytale for the ages, subverting the tale of Bluebeard to deconstruct the systems of gender, power, and the excuses people make for bad men.” ―Chicago Review of Books
“A murder ballad sung in a dark room―it’s slow, haunting and strangely beautiful.” ―The New York Times Book Review
The tale begins with Agnes. After losing her baby, Agnes is called to the great manor house to nurse the local lord’s baby boy. But something is wrong with the child: his nails grow too fast, his skin smells of soil, and his eyes remind her of the dark forest. As he grows into a boy, then into man, a plague seems to follow him everywhere. Trees wither at the roots, fruits rot on their branches, and the town turns against him. The man takes a wife, who bears him a son. But tragedy strikes in cycles and his family is forced to consider their own malignancy—until wife after wife, death after death, plague after plague, every woman he touches becomes a ghost. The ghosts become a chorus, and they call urgently to our narrator as she tries to explain, in our very real world, exactly what has happened to her. The ghosts can all agree on one thing, an inescapable truth about this man, this powerful lord who has loved them and led them each to ruin: If you leave, you die. But if you die, you stay.
Natalia Theodoridou’s haunting and unforgettable debut novel, Sour Cherry, confronts age-old systems of gender and power, long-held excuses made for bad men, and the complicated reasons we stay captive to the monsters we love.
Praise for Sour Cherry
-
“Haunting and strangely beautiful….Theodoridou’s lyrical prose takes otherwise disposable lines and turns them into poetry…. this hallucinatory novel is a sad, violent, horrible delight.”
New York Times Book Review -
“Wonderfully wicked.”
Ms. Magazine -
“Unlike anything else I have read this year—and maybe ever.”
Chicago Review of Books
About the Imprint
Where the literary canon of tomorrow is born. Critically acclaimed titles that challenge, illuminate, and linger. Discover award-winning fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from emerging voices you’ll say you found first.
