Afterbirth (A Novel)

“Feral and mesmerizing. It’s a novel that glitters with menace. Emma Cleary is a startling writer, and this is a completely unforgettable and uncanny debut.”—Lucy Rose, international bestselling author of The Lamb

“Creepy and full of eerie twists. For fans of dreamlike horror stories, Afterbirth zips along like a movie but amps up the heart.”—Variety

A hypnotic descent into the visceral heart of “mommy horror,” Afterbirth is a story of fractured sisterhood and irrevocable transformation, alive with the echoes of classic horror cinema.

In the wake of an ill-omened romance with a horror cinephile, Brooke arrives in Vancouver to care for her older sister, Izzy, who is preparing to undergo reproductive surgery. But Izzy’s decaying apartment building, its hallways stalked by an ominous crone known only as Medusa, offers little refuge to the sisters.

Seeking solace in the movies her ex-girlfriend loved, Brooke soon finds traces of horror bleeding from the screen into her life. As Izzy heals, Brooke begins to experience unsettling symptoms of her own, and a mildewed stain spreads across her belly. The sisters’ concern for each other tightens into something devotional, obsessive, and strange.

Eerie, threaded with yearning, and startlingly original, Emma Cleary’s haunting debut explores loneliness, motherhood, and the body’s threatened autonomy. Afterbirth blooms with the dark desires we suppress or surrender to—until only one question remains: Who, or what, will survive when all unravels?