Perfectly Preventable Deaths
Published on 30. May 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-1-4714-0823-6 (ISBN)
Description
'Sullivan has an eye for the uncanny, a taste for the macabre, and a gift for beautiful prose. Perfectly Preventable Deaths is her best book yet.' Louise O'Neill
'This is the novel the recent Sabrina reboot wishes it could be - a thrilling, eerie exploration of sisterhood, first love and dark powers hiding out of sight.' Dave Rudden
Sixteen-year-old twins Madeline and Catlin move to a new life in Ballyfrann, a strange isolated Irish town, a place where the earth is littered with small corpses and unspoken truths. A place where, for generations, teenage girls have gone missing in the surrounding mountains. As distance grows between the twins - as Catlin falls in love, and Madeline begins to understand her own nascent witchcraft - Madeline discovers that Ballyfrann is a place full of predators. And when Catlin falls into the gravest danger of all, Madeline must ask herself who she really is, and who she wants to be - or rather, who she might have to become to save her sister.
'This is the novel the recent Sabrina reboot wishes it could be - a thrilling, eerie exploration of sisterhood, first love and dark powers hiding out of sight.' Dave Rudden
Sixteen-year-old twins Madeline and Catlin move to a new life in Ballyfrann, a strange isolated Irish town, a place where the earth is littered with small corpses and unspoken truths. A place where, for generations, teenage girls have gone missing in the surrounding mountains. As distance grows between the twins - as Catlin falls in love, and Madeline begins to understand her own nascent witchcraft - Madeline discovers that Ballyfrann is a place full of predators. And when Catlin falls into the gravest danger of all, Madeline must ask herself who she really is, and who she wants to be - or rather, who she might have to become to save her sister.
Reviews / Votes
Deirdre Sullivan handles darkness in a way that instills addictive dread, but also, somehow, hope. She is a natural successor to Angela Carter - and Perfectly Preventable Deaths, a tale of rural horror, family and peril, is the Irish Gothic we deserve. -- Sarah Maria Griffin, author of SPARE AND FOUND PARTS This is the novel the recent Sabrina reboot wishes it could be - a thrilling, eerie exploration of sisterhood, first love and dark powers hiding out of sight. Perfectly Preventable Deaths lures you in with wit and compassion before hitting you with horror and twists worthy of Stephen King or Shirley Jackson. Nobody writes teenagers or witches like Deirdre Sullivan, and Perfectly Preventable Deaths is her best novel yet. * Dave Rudden, author of KNIGHTS OF THE BORROWED DARK * I am completely smitten with Madeline's voice and this witty, wise and weird depiction of a quiet, strange village where neither girls nor small creatures are safe from predators. Deirdre Sullivan has crafted a tale that is both achingly tender and unsettlingly creepy, a world where magic and love have tremendous power and devastating consequences. * Claire Hennessy, author of NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD * Sullivan has an eye for the uncanny, a taste for the macabre, and a gift for beautiful prose. Perfectly Preventable Deaths is her best book yet. * Louise O'Neill * This intoxicating, skilfully crafted novel laced with sisterhood, first love and witchcraft is sure to entice fans of Angela Carter or Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood. * The Bookseller, Editor's Choice *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Young adult
Interest Age: From 14 to 19 years
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
275 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4714-0823-6 (9781471408236)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Deirdre Sullivan is a writer from Galway. Her 2016 novel Needlework was awarded a White Raven and the CBI Honour Award for fiction. Tangleweed and Brine, a collection of dark fairy-tale retellings, won an Irish Book Award in 2017, and her first book for Hot Key Books, Perfectly Preventable Deaths, was shortlisted for the Awards in 2019. Her most recent book is Savage Her Reply with Little Island Books, a companion title to Tangleweed and Brine. Deirdre loves reading, knitting, bodily autonomy and guinea-pigs.