Rouge
By Mona Awad

From the critically acclaimed author ofand Bunnyand comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother's unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty.Can she escape her mother's fate and find a connection that is more than skin deep?A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 inand The Guardian,and iand newspaper,and Theand New York Times,and Time,and Globe and Mail,and Bustle,and The Millions,and LitHub,and TOR,and Good Housekeeping,and Our Culture Mag, and more!'You think, “She's not going to go there…yes, she is. and Margaret Atwoodand 'The trancelike, rhapsodic language and deepening atmosphere of unreality make for a narrative that oozes with unease.'and The Guardian A tale of insidious damage of envy and our preoccupation with appearances. Anyone maintaining a ten-step Korean skincare regimen may feel seen. […] Awad ramps up the grand guignol hysteria rather splendidly, chucking in some film noir tropes for good measure as we hurtle towards a demonic denouement'and The Times Rouge is a story in which dreams become nightmares and vice versa. Desire and danger walk hand-in-hand and Awad skilfully manipulates the vertiginous tension between them. The beauty industry is ripe for Awad's signature treatment: gothic satire, bloody but beautifully done. Much of it is darkly hilarious. […] If you like your fairy tales dark and for adults only, then stick along for the wild ride.'and and Dailyand Telegraph'[D]ark and seductive.'and iand newspaper'An edgy fable on the perils of our modern fascination with beauty.'and Vogueand 'Awad is a genius, preternaturally gifted at creating vicious, hilarious tales about the depravity inside us.'and VultureFor as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother's considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother's demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace ofand La Maison de Meduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother's) obsession with the mirror-and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.Snow Whiteand meetsand Eyes Wide Shutand in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror,and ROUGEand explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry-as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals,and ROUGEand holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.'A brilliant, biting critique of western beauty standards as well as a soaring, phantasmagoric, Angela Carter-esque fairy tale about trauma and the loss of self.and Rougeand is deeply unsettling, funny, obsessive, and unlike anything I've read. A truly mesmerizing read.'and Paul Tremblay, author ofand The Cabin at the End of the World'Rougeand is a fever dream-a brilliant, intense, unforgettable horror story about a beauty cult with aand deeply moving mother-daughter story at its core. Monaand Awad'sand signature and singular imagination and black humor and empathy are on full display here, and herand wild-rideand of a tale is masterfully grounded in the emotional devastation of childhood and grief. I loved every word of this.'and Lauraand Zigman, author ofand Small World'There is nobody else like Mona Awad, daring enough to plunge her hands-rings and all-into the viscera of storyand and discover an unsettling beauty within. ROUGE is her mostand magnetic work yet, a thrilling dystopian romp that knows that beneath the glossy, aspirational veneer of self-care lurks the same old gothic abyss.'and Alexandra Kleeman, author ofand Something New Under the Sun'Unsettling, whimsical, and moving,and Rougeand is an authentic, innovative kind of narrative magic that's both surreal and absolute. A striking novel ofand incandescence and heart.'and Iain Reid, author ofand I'm Thinking of Ending Things'Awad's latest is a dreamy (or perhaps nightmarish) gothic fairy tale about a mother, a daughter, and their shared obsession with their own beauty. Like all of Awad's novels, it reels you in, shakes your brain until you're not sure what you're seeing, and then floats off cackling on a cloud of smoke. Metaphorically, that is. I'd forgive you for not being sure.'and Lit Hub (Most Anticipated Books of 2023)'Mona Awad, I will read everything you ever write. She is a writer of unbelievable talent.'and Tor.com'[A] hypnotic tour de force… Awad approaches the increasingly well-trod ground of sinister wellness gurus with aplomb, creating an atmosphere of creeping discomfort and surreality right from the start. This is the stuff of fairy tales-red shoes, ballrooms, mirrors, and thorns but also sincerity, poignancy, and terror.'and Kirkusand (Starred Review)'[A] delightfully twisted fairy tale… The author's acerbic wit radiates in this excoriating story of beauty's ugly side.'and Publisher's Weekly