A murderess becomes the guardian of two very unusual girls in this mesmerizing gothic novel from acclaimed author Camilla Bruce.
Clara Woods is a killer—and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flower bed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace—or so she’s always thought.
Then the girls arrive.
Lily and Violet are her nieces, recently orphaned after their affluent parents died on an ill-fated anniversary trip. In accordance with their parents’ will, the sisters are to go to their closest relative—who happens to be Clara. Despite having no interest in children, Clara agrees to take them, hoping to get her hands on some of the girls’ assets—not only to bolster her dwindling fortune but also to establish what she hopes will be her legacy: a line of diamond jewelry.
There’s only one problem. Violet can see the dead man at the bottom of the garden. She can see all of Clara’s ghosts . . . and call them back into existence. Soon Clara is plagued by her victims and at war with the gifted girls in her care. Lily and Violet have become a liability—and they know far more than they should.
Praise for At the Bottom of the Garden:
“All the elegance and all the venom, like one of E. Nesbit’s supernatural stories served with a side of arsenic.” —Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
“Camilla Bruce tills the macabre for all of its Edward Gorey glory, cultivating one gorgeously morbid gothic novel that’s just as gleeful as it is gashlycrumb.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
“Camilla Bruce writes dark fantasy like no one else out there. A gothic masterpiece, At the Bottom of the Garden is a propulsive novel with gorgeous prose and incredible characters.” — Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Reluctant Immortals and The Haunting of Velkwood
“Theatrical and deliciously dark, this book is pure magic.” — A.J. West, Sunday Times Bestselling author of The Betrayal of Thomas True
“The combination of creepy folk-horror notes and tense, gory, and haunting scenes conjures plenty of scares. Readers will want to sleep with the lights on.”—Publishers Weekly
“Mystery and thriller fans will find a lot to love in this romp through the ectoplasm.” —Kirkus Reviews
“At once supernatural, paranormal, and homicidal, its surly vibe will have mood-readers in a ghastly state in no time.” —Fangoria
“I loved it! Very, very highly recommended.” —Mystery People review
“Comfort served with axe murders, poison, and ectoplasmic tadpoles.” —Wade Newhouse for LA Review of Books
“Mesmerizing.” —Nerd Daily
“The prose is beautiful, its characters are brilliant, and it smartly uses fairy tale and gothic tropes to explore the lives of unusual women. And for a novel that’s so much about grief and loss, it might just be her most fun story yet. Long may her reign as the Queen of literary feminist horror continue.” —Jonathan Thornton for The Fantasy Hive
Cover design: Sophia Chunn
Camilla Bruce 