Sorrowland

Sorrowland

Rivers Solomon

#1781 of 8,085 books · #144 in Horror

Shortlisted for the Ignyte Award for Outstanding Novel (Adult) (2022), the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel (2022), and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction (2021).

Vern, a hunted woman alone in the woods, gives birth to twins and raises them away from the influence of the outside world. But something is wrong - not with them, but with her own body. It's changing, it's itching, it's stronger, it's... not normal. To understand her body's metamorphosis, Vern must investigate not just the secluded religious compound she fled but the violent history of dehumanization, medical experimentation, and genocide that produced it. In the course of reclaiming her own darkness, Vern learns that monsters aren't just individuals, but entire histories, systems, and nations. Sorrowland is a memorable work of Gothic fiction that wrestles with the tangled history of racism in America and the marginalisation of society's undesirables.