The Coiled Serpent
Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2024
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Atlantic Books
Published:7th Nov '24
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This collection presents a series of surreal stories that explore the darker sides of life. The Coiled Serpent captivates with its unique perspective.
In The Coiled Serpent, readers are invited into a world that is both unsettling and captivating. The collection features a series of short stories that explore the darker aspects of human nature and society, revealing the bizarre and often grotesque realities lurking beneath the surface. Each tale is intricately woven, showcasing the author's unique ability to blend surrealism with poignant commentary on contemporary life. From a little girl’s shocking encounter at a custard factory to a group of boys drawn into a hypnotic book, the narratives are rich with imagery and emotion.
The characters in The Coiled Serpent grapple with their identities and the absurdities of their environments. A girl sent to a mysterious hotel faces unexplained changes in her body, while another story delves into the oppressive nature of work in a decaying spa. The author skillfully navigates themes of exploitation, the quest for enlightenment, and the peculiarities of Britishness, all while maintaining a sense of strangeness that keeps readers engaged. Each story serves as a mirror reflecting the complexities of modern existence.
With its longlisting for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2024 and recognition as a Guardian Book of the Year, The Coiled Serpent is a testament to the author’s prowess. The collection not only entertains but also encourages readers to confront the discomforts of life, making it a must-read for those who appreciate literature that challenges and provokes thought.
Utterly triumphant... I can't remember the last time I read satire of the Great British institutions so crisply rendered, so exquisitely batty... Grudova has an instinct for queasily precise imagery that few can rival... She's a thoroughly sui generis visionary - and, after reading The Coiled Serpent, I'd say one of the most startlingly original writers we've got. -- A K Blakemore * Guardian *
Camilla Grudova's books make other young writers seem meek... It's weird, dark and graphic, but as her new collection proves, it's also funny and poignant and distinctive, so inventive that it makes other writing seem uncourageous. * Sunday Telegraph *
A prodigious instinct for story... careering majestically between the astonishing and the terrible to create something uniquely gripping. * Irish Times *
It's gruesome fare, served with cold precision... One imagines these stories pairing perfectly with the painter Paula Rego's paintings of women subverting fairy tales... The simmering undercurrent of rage... is all too recognisable. * Financial Times *
Grudova's stories are dark, creepy and strange, each a little off-kilter in a world where mental anxiety and fleshy reality are twisted into surreal scenarios by her fertile but festering imagination... for those with a penchant for gothictinged body horror, these are the business. * Daily Mail *
Queen of the grotesque... These stories are not for the faint of heart, and reading them is as sharply satisfying as picking at a scab. * The Skinny *
Strange, weird, twisted, sometimes surreal and always absorbing. * The Bristol Magazine *
Unsettling... refuses to gloss over the grimy reality of years of austerity with Grudova's signature abstract flair. * Big Issue *
An excellent second collection of exultantly gross-out tales * Telegraph Best Fiction Books of 2023 *
ISBN: 9781838956387
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 15mm
Weight: 183g
208 pages
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