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Title details for Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison - Available

Black Sheep

by Rachel Harrison
Jeremy Carlisle Parker
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A New York Times Best Horror Book of the Year 
A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.
 
Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep. 
 
Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
 
When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 19, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593748008
      • File size: 284205 KB
      • Duration: 09:52:05

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from July 17, 2023
      Harrison (Such Sharp Teeth) has earned a reputation for writing stories about complicated women spiked with a hefty dose of the supernatural, and this deliciously spooky outing is no exception. Heroine Vesper is a waitress with a bad job and a worse attitude who lost all her friends and family when she left her insular religious community six years ago, looking for freedom and her absent father, who mysteriously disappeared from her life. She’s sure she’ll never be allowed to return—until she receives an unexpected wedding invitation: her close friend and cousin Rosie is marrying the boyfriend Vesper left behind. Half heartbroken and half desperate to see who bent the rules to invite her, Vesper goes home to a rapturous welcome from everyone except for her cold and distant mother. In fact, they’re all almost too glad to see her, their smiles too wide, their conviction too firm: Vesper is home, they say, because the Lord wills it—and there is no escape from the will of their Dark Lord, Satan. Harrison finds new ways to press on the bruise of growing up as an outsider, delivering small-town religious horror with wit as sharp as a ritual dagger piercing through a bleeding core of familial trauma. This deserves to be front and center in any bookstore Halloween display. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Jeremy Carlisle Parker narrates this dark, twisty novel about mysterious Vesper Wright, who, six years ago, escaped her strict religious community and her mother's iron fist. Vesper is desperately trying to outrun her past and to forge a meaningful relationship. An unsigned invitation to her cousin's wedding convinces her to return home, where questions remain and fate awaits. Listeners will feel the icy disapproval in Vesper's mother's diatribes and the silky force of Vesper herself. Parker reveals secrets and twists in an even, rational tone that heightens the story's shock factor. Her narration feels like a warm breath on your neck in a dark room where you thought you were alone. L.M.G. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from June 10, 2024

      It's been six years since Vesper Wright left home. The moment she turned 18, she left her deeply religious family and community behind. Once someone leaves the fold, they are not welcome back, so when Vesper receives an invitation to the wedding between her ex-boyfriend and her cousin, she wonders why they've made an exception for her. Against her better judgment, Vesper makes the journey home, which reopens old wounds and compels her to face her rigid and detached mother. But Vesper's initial fears are nothing compared with the dark secret that unfolds soon after her arrival. Jeremy Carlisle Parker gives voice to the cynical Vesper, fluidly delivering deadpan humor and pessimistic commentary. Parker ably performs Vesper's range of emotions, cementing listeners' connection to her as she uncovers the unsettling truth about her family. VERDICT Harrison (Such Sharp Teeth) magnificently balances humor against psychological dread and familial trauma in this tale of a most unusual homecoming. Listeners who appreciate sarcasm and a dry sense of humor will hugely enjoy this audio production. Uncover more dark family secrets in Grady Hendrix's How To Sell a Haunted House and Catriona Ward's Sundial.--Meghan Bouffard

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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