Description

There are some facts about the world that only your mother can teach you.

So into the attic she had gone, climbing the stairs towards her promised freedom, and she would stay there until she had learned the lessons that would prepare her for the real world, the lessons that only a mother could teach.

Marguerite Perigord had been confined for the sake of her wellbeing.

That’s what her mother had said.

Marguerite Perigord is locked in the attic of her family home, a towering Chelsea house overlooking the stinking Thames. For company she has a sewing machine, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and a carrion crow who has come to nest in the rafters. Restless, she spends her waning energies on the fascinations of her own body, memorising Mrs Beeton’s advice and longing for her life outside.

Cecile Perigord has confined her daughter Marguerite for her own good. Cecile is concerned that Marguerite’s engagement to a much older, near-penniless solicitor, will drag the family name – her husband’s name, that is – into disrepute. And for Cecile, who has worked hard at her own betterment, this simply won’t do. Cecile’s life has taught her that no matter how high a woman climbs she can just as readily fall.

Of course, both have their secrets, intentions and histories to hide. As Marguerite’s patience turns into rage, the boundaries of her mind and body start to fray. Neither woman can recognise what the other is becoming.

‘One of the most important new voices in fiction, with Carrion Crow Heather Parry deduces an unutterable Gothic horror of class and gender from the pages of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. A festering Edwardian nightmare dressed in exquisitely tailored language, Parry’s vision is magnificent and devastating.’ Alan Moore

Publisher Review

One of the most important new voices in fiction, with Carrion Crow Heather Parry deduces an unutterable Gothic horror of class and gender from the pages of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. A festering Edwardian nightmare dressed in exquisitely tailored language, Parry's vision is magnificent and devastating. * Alan Moore, author of Watchmen * Sublime, wretched, harrowing, glorious. * Kirsty Logan * Carrion Crow picks at the scabs of class, sexual liberty and body autonomy in Victorian London and chews them over with grotesque attention to detail. Sharp, claustrophobic and undeniably gross, it revels in the repulsive and positions Heather Parry as both a punk Sarah Waters and the baddest bitch in the business. I can't wait to see this strange bird fly to dizzying heights. * Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller * A gruesome, provocative, stylish fairytale about confinement and consumption, Carrion Crow's takes the "mad woman in the attic" trope and turns the dial up to 100. Heather Parry's layered novel is both terrifying and thoughtful - a true Gothic gem. * Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time * Carrion Crow is a book to marvel at. Beautifully written with such dark, claustrophobic precision, exploring the devastating control we assert upon one another. Such an achievement. * Rachelle Atalla, author of The Pharmacist * An incredibly powerful writer * Edward Carey, author of Little * Grizzly, compelling, and utterly claustrophobic * Heather Darwent, author of The Things We Do To Our Friends * Heather Parry is a major talent * Julia Armfield, author of Private Rites * Carrion Crow is a rancid work of genius about the depths to which the world will go to rid women of their "unnatural desires". This novel makes the walls close in and the body an oozing font of horror, and I fell in love with its wild beating crow heart. Heather Parry is a disgusting mastermind and I'd read anything she wrote. * Jane Flett, author of Freakslaw * What a book! And what a disturbing delight to come across a writer who is so unflinching, so unafraid to explore the darker regions of the body and mind. But more than that, Heather Parry is a consummate stylist, unique in her insight and manipulation of her source material (Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, incredible!): each sentence is a pristine gift, no matter how gloriously disturbing. Bold, blazing, absolutely unforgettable. * Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory * Both mouthwatering and revolting, a heady poisonous pudding of a book. * Camilla Grudova, author of Children of Paradise * A delicious, rotten apple of a book full of treachery and betrayal of the most foul sort. As an author she is sublime, intelligent and with a technical proficiency that is enough to make you want to never leave a world she has created - even when danger lurks around every corner. * Chikodili Emelumadu, author of Dazzling *