There is a rumour that a spirit haunts the town. Centuries ago, a young woman made a horrifying discovery about herself that resulted in her death. But some say she still lives on...





Another tragedy has more recently befallen the town. A girl named Janie disappeared fifteen years ago without a trace. Her grieving parents became the object of everyone's unceasing attention. For her mother, Annette, the disappearance shaped her guilt and worry into an exquisite public face of resilience. For the father, Calvin, the disappearance broke something in him. He had no such composure, crying uncomfortably on television and prompting some to wonder: could his raw emotions in fact be a performance? Others still have more supernatural suspicions. What if the town's spirit was actually behind this?





Now, fifteen years on, someone comes to help solve the case, a woman with a very unusual background, who knows a thing or two about public grief herself. She might be exactly the thing Annette and Calvin need to help them find their lost daughter. That is, if she doesn't tear their family apart first...



Ainslie Hogarth is the author of five novels, including Motherthing, a New York Times Best Book of 2022, and Normal Women. Her short fiction has appeared in Hazlitt, Black Static, Maisonneuve, and Room Magazine. She lives in Canada.



Gripping... A gutsy, gory mashup of domestic horror and dark humour



A gruesome, blackly funny, utterly original feminist horror story



A dark, moving, hugely entertaining slab of gothic horror....and also very funny



A disgusting and delightful romp of a book



Filled with sharp, crackling sentences, which bend variously sinister, humorous and sad, Ainslie Hogarth's new novel is a stunner. Like Mona Awad's Bunny or Ottessa Moshfegh's Eileen, Motherthing is a fabulous, frightening story built from fine, fine prose



This novel is bursting with smart, provocative, heart-breaking things to say about the nature of grief and its ability to take up just as much - if not more - physical space than the actual person lost. Motherthing is gory and irreverent and totally irresistible



A masterfully crafted horror novel that's by turns humorous and deeply unsettling... Packs a punch



Profane, insane, hilarious, disgusting - and unexpectedly moving