Book Description
A “haunting, brilliant” Appalachian folktale evoking the Southern gothic suspense of Sharp Objects and the eco spine-tinglers of Jeff Vandermeer (Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts)
Five siblings in West Virginia unearth long-buried secrets when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured
Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.
At once a gothic eco-horror, a psychological drama, and a family saga, The Bog Wife is a propulsive read for fans of Shirley Jackson, Karen Russell, and Matt Bell that speaks to what is knowable and unknowable within a family history and how to know when it is time to move forward.
Praise For This Book
Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year"Thank goodness for Kay Chronister, delivering the book that all the bog-wives need: a story about a family, a bog, and the connection between them." —Drew Broussard, Literary Hub
"The Bog Wife is a creeping, Appalachian folktale, an astute allegory for a decaying America, and a haunting, brilliant novel. This one is going to stay with me for a while." —Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
"Five siblings in their decrepit ancestral home, raised to believe outlandish things, some of which might be true, must navigate a new way of existing in the world. It’s got everything: Gothic eco-horror, plant consciousness, an emotionally distant bog-woman mom, a lying tyrannical father, siblings pulled between twin desires of wanting to individuate and to be part of something larger than themselves. Soulful, suspenseful, expansive and emotionally complicated. I couldn’t put this book down, and I’m sure that it will haunt me." —Katya Apekina, author of Mother Doll
