A cynical twenty something must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the acclaimed author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth.
Nobody has a “normal” family; but Vesper Wright’s is truly... something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back―mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.
Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother; Constance; a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret; she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.
Review
Praise forBlack Sheep:
Think The Princess Diaries meets Dante's Inferno. That's Black Sheep. Only Rachel Harrison could write something with such fiery playfulness and such stunning acerbic wit. Undoubtedly the most enjoyable and compelling horror novel you'll read this year.
- Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
Rachel Harrison has quickly secured her place as one of my favorite modern horror writers. Black Sheep is a devilish good time made all the more compelling with an exploration of the complexities of family dynamics. Compulsively readable, Harrison's newest novel is a battle cry for every outcast daughter who has questioned her place among family and weighed the damage of going home again.
- Kristi DeMeester, author of Such a Pretty Smile
No other contemporary author harnesses the humanity found in horror quite like Rachel Harrison. With Black Sheep, she warms your heart, then breaks it, then rips it out.
- Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters
Once again, Rachel Harrison finds light in the darkness and darkness in the light... Black Sheep sits proudly among her family of contemporary horror classics.
- Nat Cassidy, author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings
Surprising and snappy, Harrison catches you on Hellraiser hooks with a ceremony of grim wit and communal dread. Black Sheep makes a firm case for dodging every family get-together.
- Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Light Most Hateful
Vesper is my favorite new antihero. . . . This is, in short, my ideal read and my favorite Rachel Harrison novel yet.
- Anne Heltzel, author of Just Like Mother
With brilliant underline-worthy writing, thrilling page-turning pace, and genuine laugh-out-loud humor, Black Sheep confirms what I already knew: I will follow Harrison down any dark alley, always.
- Claudia Lux, author of Sign Here
A razor-sharp voice full of wit and humor, along with some edge-of-your-seat moments, will have readers clamoring for more.
- Library Journal, starred review
Harrison finds new ways to press on the bruise of growing up as an outsider, delivering small-town religious horror with wit as sharp as a ritual dagger piercing through a bleeding core of familial trauma. This deserves to be front and center in any bookstore Halloween display.
- Publishers Weekly, starred review
Anyone who read Such Sharp Teeth knows that Harrison can absolutely nail thorny family dynamics and blend them with visceral horror, but with Black Sheep, there's something new going on, proving yet again that Harrison is one of the most versatile authors in the genre.
- Paste Magazine
--. About the Author
Rachel Harrison is the author of CACKLE; winner of the Ladies of Horror Award for Best Novel and THE RETURN; which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Guernica; Electric Literature's Recommended Reading; and as an Audible Original. She lives in Western New York with her husband and their cat/overlord.
