Cursed Bread

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize

Audacious and mesmerising, Cursed Bread is a darkly erotic tale of a town gripped by madness, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.

Elodie is the baker's wife: plain and unremarkable but desperate to escape her dull, small-town life. One day a charismatic new couple appear in the neighbourhood and Elodie quickly falls under their spell. All summer long she stalks them through the shining streets: inviting herself into their home, eavesdropping on their conversations, longing to possess them.

Meanwhile, beneath the tranquil surface of daily life, strange things are happening. The animals expire in the fields, ghosts are sighted after dark, the local children grow erratic and violent. A dark intoxication is spreading through the town, and when Elodie finally understands her role in it, it will be too late to stop.

A shimmering fever-dream of a novel, teasing the reader [..] while finding a fresh narrative framework for the relationship between monotonous small-town life and repressed female desire. Cursed Bread contains more riches than many a novel twice its length

Telegraph

About Sophie Mackintosh

Sophie Mackintosh is the author of three novels: The Water Cure, Blue Ticket and Cursed Bread. Her debut novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018 and won a Betty Trask Award 2019. Cursed Bread was longlisted for the Women's Prize 2023. She has been published in Granta, The White Review and TANK magazine among others.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780241993903
  • Length: 192 pages
  • Dimensions: 197mm x 12mm x 128mm
  • Weight: 142g
  • Price: £9.99
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