Description

‘Sarai Walker has done it again … upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal.’ Maria Semple, bestelling author of Where’d You Go Bernadette

‘A riveting, gothic page-turner’ the New York Times

‘Wonderful… A book one doesn’t want to put down… I highly recommend’ Sarah Jessica Parker

The reclusive Sylvia Wren, one of the most important American artists of the past century, has been running from her past for sixty years. Born Iris Chapel, of the Chapel munitions dynasty, second youngest of six sisters, she grew up in a palatial Victorian ‘Wedding Cake House’ in New England, neglected by her distant father and troubled, haunted mother.

The sisters longed to escape, but the only way out was marriage. Not long after the first Chapel sister walks down the aisle, she dies of mysterious causes, a tragedy that repeats with the second sister, leaving the rest to navigate the wreckage, with heart-wrenching consequences.

The Cherry Robbers is a wonderfully atmospheric, propulsive novel about sisterhood, mortality and forging one’s own path.

Publisher Review

Wonderful ... I highly recommend ... a book one doesn't want to put down' -- Sarah Jessica Parker A twisted take on the artist's coming-of-age story, The Cherry Robbers tackles deep questions about marriage, sexuality, familial loyalty, guns and the artist's life-a witty, delicious, demented joyride. -- Susan Scarf Merrell, author of Shirley This feminist Gothic thriller whisks readers from New Mexico in 2017 to Connecticut in 1950, straight into the bull's-eye of a firearms dynasty. * The New York Times 18 works of fiction to read this spring * Sarai Walker's debut novel does something few contemporary writers - whether green or seasoned - have managed to do well: Dietland is a searing feminist manifesto, a hardcore, politically-charged criticism of the unavoidable ills that plague women today. But, guess what? It's also fun. * Bustle * Hooray! Sarai Walker has done it again. With The Cherry Robbers she upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal. -- Maria Semple, bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and Today Will Be Different Praise for Dietland: 'If Amy Schumer turned her subversive feminist sketches into a novel, dark on the inside but coated with a glossy, palatable sheen, it would probably look a lot like Dietland - a thrilling, incendiary manifesto disguised as a beach read.' * Entertainment Weekly * Walker creates a dazzling world filled with the scents and colors of flowers that will later become the foundation for Sylvia's subversive paintings. Just as subversive is the swirl of voices of the women at the story's center: The Chapel women may be locked away in castles and sanitariums by a series of domineering men, but their unfulfilled longings haunt these pages as powerfully as any family curse -- Aamina Ahmad * The New York Times Book Review * Walker plays along with the feminist gothic form, with the idea of a family curse, and we cannot but play along, caught up in the suspense to the inevitable end * Saga magazine * A riveting, gothic page-turner... evocatively captures the tempo, languor and decadence of the ivory tower in which the sisters are trapped... a dazzling world... their unfulfilled longings haunt these pages as powerfully as any family curse * The New York Times * Walker's take on the classic Gothic tale fairly shimmers... a heady concoction of terror and desire... fever-pitched emotions... dark with smothering melancholy and macabre spectres * Booklist * Exquisitely tense and satisfyingly spooky... masterfully blends psychological and supernatural horror...a darkly erotic exploration of female desire, duty and destiny via an ensemble of nuanced female characters, each with distinct personalities and rich inner lives...will keep readers frantically flipping pages. The Cherry Robbers is not to be missed * BookPage * Delightfully eerie mix of bildungsroman and ghost story. This uncanny tale of dark origins shines brightly * Publishers Weekly * Gorgeously written and all-consuming, and left me more than a little heartbroken * BuzzFeed * Long-anticipated... spooky... speaks to the author's range * WBUR Boston * Earning comparisons to The Virgin Suicides for its singularly unlucky siblings and gothic mystery * Entertainment Weekly * Filled with incredible writing, deliciously dark and gothic themes and strong female characters, this new novel is not one to miss * The South African * Takes one interesting new turn after another... a heady mix of gothic fiction and incisive art thriller * CrimeReads * Sharp, gothic tale * PopSugar * Sarai Walker has done it again. She upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal * Maria Semple, New York Times bestselling author of 'Where'd You Go Bernadette' * Thrums with violence, oppression, and blood. This fierce feminist tale hit me in the heart and hasn't let me go * Stacey Swann, author of 'Olympus, Texas' * Oh, I love Sarai Walker's The Cherry Robbers! The Cherry Robbers tackles deep questions about marriage, sexuality, familial loyalty, guns and the artist's life--a witty, delicious, demented joyride * Susan Scarf Merrell, author of 'Shirley' *