SPOILT CREATURES

A dark, riveting literary debut about cults, transgression and female rage, for fans of Eliza Clark, Colin Walsh and Emma Cline

They thought they knew everything about us. The kind of women we were.

Iris is adrift when she meets the beguiling Hazel, who lives on a women's commune. As she is drawn into commune life, Iris is soon seduced by the possibility of a new start away from a world of men who have only let her down. At Breach House the women are free to live and eat abundantly, to be loud and dirty, all whilst under the leadership of their gargantuan matriarch, Blythe.

But is Breach House truly the haven it seems? And just how much can Iris trust her new family? When an unforgivable transgression threatens the commune's existence, Iris and the other women find themselves hurtling towards an act of devastating violence.

Fierce and unapologetic, Spoilt Creatures is an intoxicating debut that pulls back the skin of the patriarchy and examines the female rage that lies beneath.

About the Author

Amy Twigg was born in Kent, and is currently based in Surrey. Her debut novel Spoilt Creatures won the BPA Pitch Prize and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition. In 2024, she was selected as one of the Observer's Best New Novelists.

Reviews

A modern-day Dionysian cult of women in the woods – haunting, exhilarating and full of female rage" —Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne

"This lusciously verdant novel is about female identity and obsession, desire and autonomy. It asks important questions about what we owe, and to who. It is rich in grit and dirt, in sensuality and oblivion, working towards a complicated and devastating end " —Lara Williams, author of Supper Club

"Emma Cline's The Girls meets Lord of the Flies, Spoilt Creatures is compelling, cultish and utterly feral. I'm drinking the Amy Twigg Kool-Aid, and it tastes like blood and rotten summer berries. A firecracker of a debut!" —Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller

"Amy Twigg's striking debut offers a new twist on the cult narrative... Twigg writes perceptively about loneliness and disconnection and the appeal of a haven from 'the malfunctioning world of indecision and patriarchy'" ―Observer

"If there's one debut you read this year, make sure it is Spoilt Creatures. A story that is dripping in satire, female rage and cultish obsession, this is a read in one sitting kind of book... There is such a surreal, dreamlike quality to the prose, which is rich with atmosphere and fierce with its brute power. Twigg is here to stay" ―Glamour

Dimensions: 15.2 x 3 x 23.2 cm