Curdle Creek

(Hardback, Large Print Edition)

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Description

Welcome to Curdle Creek, a place just dying to make you feel at home.

Osira, a forty-five-year-old widow, is an obedient follower of the strict conventions of the remote all-Black town thats stuck in the past and governed by ominous rituals including a one in, one out population policy. Osira has always been considered blessed, but her luck changes when her grown children run off to parts unknown, escaping Curdle Creeks harsh traditions, she comes in second to last in the Running of the Widows, and her father flees after his name is called in the annual Moving On ceremony.

Forced to jump into a well in a test of allegiance, Osira finds herself transported first back in time, and then into another realm where she must answer for crimes committed by Curdle Creek. Exile forces her to jump realms again, landing Osira even farther away from home, in rural England. Safe there as long as she sticks to the rules, she quickly learns there are consequences for every kindness. Each jump could lead Osira anywhere but will she ever find a place to call home Curdle Creek is an American gothic in the tradition of Shirley Jackson that offers a mash-up of the surreal and literary horror that will appeal to fans of Ring Shout, The Salt Grows Heavy and Lovecraft Country. Yvonne Battle-Feltons fever-dream of a tale is layered and eerie and quite unlike anything else.

Reviews

Mind-bending...The debt to Shirley Jacksons 'The Lottery' is obvious, but Battle-Felton is drawing from a deeper well of influences, including Toni Morrisons lyricism, the time-travel elements of Octavia E. Butlers Kindred and the alternative universe of Colson Whiteheads The Underground Railroad. . . . Battle-Felton imagines this world exceedingly well. And she never loses sight of the novels central theme: how the need for communities to protect themselves unleashes its own anxieties and traumas.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

While it obviously owes a lot to The Lottery and would appeal to Jacksons fans, the strong world-building and genre-bending action would also make it a good fit for readers who enjoyed Matt Ruffs Lovecraft Country (2016), Colson Whiteheads The Underground Railroad (2016), or P. Djl Clarks Ring Shout (2022).

Booklist

This novel is perfect for fans of Shirley Jacksons classic The Lottery.

Emily Martin, Book Riot

Author Bio

Yvonne Battle-Felton was born in Pennsylvania and raised in New Jersey before moving to Maryland. She currently lives in Yorkshire, England with her family. Yvonne holds an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in creative writing from Lancaster University. She is an associate teaching professor and the academic director of creative writing at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education. Her debut novel, Remembered, won a Northern Writers Award, and was longlisted for the Womens Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize.