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Carrion Crow

byHeather Parry

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‘A gruesome, provocative, stylish fairytale’ Kaliane Bradley, internationally bestselling author of The Ministry of Time

‘Magnificent and devastating’ Alan Moore, author of Watchman

‘As mesmerizing as it is surreal, a haunting gothic tapestry’ Lucy Rose, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamb

‘I loved it’ Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under The Sea

‘Will win awards’ Observer

‘A worthy entrant into the contemporary gothic hall of fame’ Financial Times

Marguerite Périgord is locked in the attic of her family home, a towering Chelsea house overlooking the stinking Thames. For company she has a sewing machine, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and a carrion crow who has come to nest in the rafters. Restless, she spends her waning energies on the fascinations of her own body, memorising Mrs Beeton’s advice and longing for her life outside.

Cécile Périgord has confined her daughter Marguerite for her own good. Cécile is concerned that Marguerite’s engagement to a much older, near-penniless solicitor, will drag the family name – her husband’s name, that is – into disrepute. And for Cécile, who has worked hard at her own betterment, this simply won’t do. Cécile’s life has taught her that no matter how high a woman climbs she can just as readily fall.

Of course, both have their secrets, intentions and histories to hide. As Marguerite’s patience turns into rage, the boundaries of her mind and body start to fray. And neither woman can recognise what the other is becoming.

Carrion Crow, surely, will win awards . . . Every sentence oozes a crushed purple poetry, overripe with devastation and wretchedness . . . If you finish it feeling you might just skip dinner, then you also feel filled with awe for a writer so gifted at conveying this much ick in such luxuriant, refulgent style.

Observer

About Heather Parry

Heather Parry is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her books have been long- and shortlisted for the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year award, the Polari First Book Prize and the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing. In 2025 The Skinny named her as one of the ‘Next Generation of Scottish Writers’. She writes the Substack general observations on eggs, and lives in Glasgow with her partner and their cats, Fidel and Ernesto.
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Details
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • ISBN: 9781529938708
  • Length: 272 pages
  • Price: £5.99
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