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A Novel
by Rebecca Baum
A fascinating blend of horror and magical realism, this spine-tingling thriller explores the complex relationship between women, their bodies, and the natural world.
Cutthroat NYC lawyer Mary Whelton just buried her problematic old mentor. But as she leaves the mourners and protesters behind, the press stays hot on her heels. Desperate to escape, she unwittingly barrels deep into a remote forest in upstate New York. Until a collision―with a buzzing, oozing throng of cicadas―stops her dead in her tracks.
She awakens in a crude cabin, held captive by Girl, a simple, hulking woman who mistakes Mary for her derelict mother and obsesses over a mysterious Brood. While tortured echoes from Mary's past feed her growing sense of fear, it becomes clear that she's destined to bear an unthinkable role in the cicadas' cyclical reemergence. But when Girl's grisly past comes back to haunt them both, Mary is thrust into a violent battle of wills.
Confoundingly creepy and atmospheric, The Brood peels back the hurt and pain of the female experience, laying bare the messy necessity for transformation and growth.
"Baum's prose is hypnotic, lush, and bristling with menace. Every page pulses with life—cicadas buzz incessantly, roots twist with intent, and the forest hums with ancient hunger…It forces us to confront the things we would rather not think about: our bodies, their decay and function, and our place within a natural world that does not bend to us. Baum has given us a beautiful, terrifying hymn to the wilderness—both without and within." —Susana Aikin, Emmy Award–winning filmmaker and author of The Weight of the Heart and We Shall See the Sky Sparkling
"Rebecca Baum's The Brood is a fever dream of body horror and self-discovery that will keep you turning the pages. Be careful this book doesn't crawl under your skin." —Joe Hart, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Or Else
"The Brood had me hooked at its premise—a cutthroat lawyer colliding with nature and trauma. I read an early draft and have been literally thinking about this novel for years—it's fiercely original and indelible. Fans of Yellowjackets and The Substance will eat it up." —Carinn Jade, author of The Astrology House
This information about The Brood was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rebecca Baum is a novelist, ghostwriter, and content marketer. While her ghostwriting has served founders of global nonprofits and mission-driven businesses, Baum wades into the wonderfully troubled waters of horror with her novel The Brood. Her prior book, Lifelike Creatures, was longlisted for the Crook's Corner Book Prize Foundation's 2021 best debut novel set in the American South. A native of rural Louisiana, Baum feels she has almost earned the right to call herself a New Yorker after more than twenty-five years in the city. She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband and favorite karaoke partner, Gary.
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