The acclaimed, unsettling novel of haunted love, revenge and the nature of truth

You Let Me In

From a startling new voice in contemporary Gothic fiction comes a superbly creepy, critically acclaimed debut about the elusive nature of truth, the stories we choose to believe (or not), and how we choose to tell those tales . . .

'By the end of the third page I was not only hooked, but beginning to think that this might be the best book I'd read all year.' Joanne Harris 
 
'I wanted someone to know, you see. To know my truth, now that I am gone. How everything and none of it happened.' 
 
Everyone knew bestselling novelist Cassandra Tipp had twice got away with murder. 
 
Even her family were convinced of her guilt. 
 
So when she disappears, leaving only a long letter behind, they can but suspect that her conscience finally killed her. 
 
But the letter is not what anyone expected. It tells two chilling, darkly disturbing stories. One is a story of bloody nights and magical gifts, of children lost to the woods, of husbands made from twigs and leaves and feathers and bones . . . 
 
The other is the story of a little girl who was cruelly treated and grew up crooked in the shadows . . . 
 
But which story is true? And where is Cassie now?

This might be the best book I've read all year . . . creepy, pagan, detailed, entrancing. I loved it.

JOANNE HARRIS, author of Chocolat and The Strawberry Thief

Smart, creepy . . . glittering and menacing . . . deliciously terrifying.

Exploring the darker side of fairytales, it inhabits that liminal space where folklore and horror collide. A worrying tale where reality is filtered through the unreal, and the rational rubs shoulders with the supernatural, this is a beguiling story of love and revenge.

LUCIE McKNIGHT HARDY, author of Water Shall Refuse Them

Bruce's spooky novel is lascivious and bloody, a tale of sexual awakening and dark desires that wreathes its leafy tendrils seductively around you, then tightens them until they start to strangle.

Dark and immersive; a feast of storytelling that lingers long after the last morsel's been consumed.

This beguiling and unsettling debut had me hooked from the first page . . . a unique, strange and defiant folk horror story which lingers long in the memory.

A bewitching, beguiling, and deeply unsettling tale of one woman's strange life. It will ensnare you from page one and keep you riveted until the end.

CAITLIN STARLING, author of The Luminous Dead

In this storytelling masterclass, everything is inverted.

A glorious, pitch-black fairytale of a book. Lush, strange and defiant. As soon as I finished it, I went straight back to the start and read it again.

KIRSTY LOGAN, author of Things We Say in the Dark

Odd and unsettling, this might not be for everyone, but we thought it was magic.

Dark and magical, one of the best books I've read this year.

A fairytale, a psychological portrait and a bleak drama.

Beautiful, strange . . . hideously dark, delights in unsettling.

Creepy and disturbing right from the start.

A disturbing but brilliant narrative . . . a rare treat.

CAMILLA BRUCE was in born central Norway and grew up in an old forest, next to an Iron Age burial mound. She has a master's degree in comparative literature and has co-run a small press that published dark fairy tales. Her first novel was the acclaimed work of folk horror, You Let Me In; her second the historical crime novel, Triflers Need Not Apply. Camilla currently lives in Trondheim with her son and cat.

'This might be the best book I've read all year' JOANNE HARRIS 
 
'A glorious, pitch-black fairytale of a book' KIRSTY LOGAN, author of Things We Say in the Dark 
 
'A feast of storytelling...lingers long after the last morsel's been consumed' SAM LLOYD, author of The Memory Wood 
 
'Brutal and beguiling story of love and revenge' LUCIE McKNIGHT HARDY, author of Water Shall Refuse Them 
 
'Lascivious and bloody' JAMES LOVEGROVE in the Financial Times 
 
Everyone knew bestselling novelist Cassandra Tipp had twice got away with murder. 
 
Even her family were convinced of her guilt. So when she disappears, leaving only a long letter behind, they can but suspect that her conscience finally killed her. 
 
But the letter is not what anyone expected. It tells two chilling, darkly disturbing stories. One is a story of children lost to the woods, of husbands made from twigs and leaves and feathers and bones . . . 
 
The other is the story of a little girl trying to make sense of a damaged life lived in the shadows . . . 
 
But which story is true? 
 
Unsettling yet unputdownable, You Let Me In dares to cross the boundary between reality and somewhere else entirely . . . 
________________________ 
 
What readers are saying... 
 
'I loved this book, was blown away by it' 
'I would certainly read more from this author' 
'Unexpected, thrilling and darkly twisted' 
'I found myself thinking about it for several days afterwards' 
'The writing was just sensational' 
'An impressive debut' 
'I would love to see Guillermo del Toro make a movie based on this story'

Camilla Bruce

True to form, Camilla Bruce has spun a slippery yet beguiling spell with this cleverly crafted and intoxicating tale of female rivalry and folklore. A startling and original plot is woven around a cast of gleefully unpleasant characters - I was gripped from the very first page.

Haunting and harrowing . . . I couldn't look away.

ALIX E. HARROW, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Simmering with unease and spookiness, this creepy read will give you goosebumps. ****

A slippery yet beguiling spell ... this is a cleverly crafted and intoxicating tale of female rivalry and folklore.

Uniting the 'found footage' of Janice Hallett's books with Norwegian tales of 'difficult women' and folk horror.

A deliciously disturbing Gothic tale of a revenge reaching out across the years

Once upon a time, the townspeople of F -. did something bad . . . 
 
Local schoolteacher Catherine Evans has made writing the definitive account of what happened when Ilsbeth Clark drowned in the well her life's work. 
 
Some don't want the past raked up, but Catherine is determined to shine a light upon that shameful event. Because Ilsbeth was an innocent, shunned and ostracized by rumour-mongers and ill-wishers, and someone has to speak up for her. And who better than Catherine, who has herself felt the sting and hurt of such whisperings? 
 
And then a childhood friend returns to F -. Elena is a successful author who's earned a certain celebrity. Now in search of a new subject, she announces her intention to write a book about the long-dead woman. 
 
And Elena has everything Catherine has not. A platform. And connections. And no one seems to care that this book will be pure speculation, tainting Ilsbeth's memory. Catherine is left with no option but to blunt her rival's pen ... 
 
Before summer is over, one woman will be dead and the other accused of murder. 
But is she guilty, or are there other forces at work? And who was Ilsbeth Clark, really? 
An innocent? A witch? Or something else entirely?

Camilla Bruce

Praise for The Witch in the Well

True to form, Camilla Bruce has spun a slippery yet beguiling spell with this cleverly crafted and intoxicating tale of female rivalry and folklore. A startling and original plot is woven around a cast of gle ...

Haunting and harrowing . . . I couldn't look away.

Simmering with unease and spookiness, this creepy read will give you goosebumps. ****

True to form, Camilla Bruce has spun a slippery yet beguiling spell with this cleverly crafted and intoxicating tale of female rivalry and folklore. A startling and original plot is woven around a cast of gle ...

Haunting and harrowing . . . I couldn't look away.

Simmering with unease and spookiness, this creepy read will give you goosebumps. ****

True to form, Camilla Bruce has spun a slippery yet beguiling spell with this cleverly crafted and intoxicating tale of female rivalry and folklore. A startling and original plot is woven around a cast of gle ...

Haunting and harrowing . . . I couldn't look away.

Simmering with unease and spookiness, this creepy read will give you goosebumps. ****

Books by Camilla Bruce

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