From the Booker Prize-nominated author of The Water Cure<\/i> comes a chilling new feminist fable based on the true story of an unsolved mystery…
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A recommended read for 2023 in The Times, Guardian, Irish Times, Scotsman, iD, Good Housekeeping, Big Issue <\/i>and Our Culture<\/i>
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‘Sensual, luminous, transcendent. <\/b>It confirms Mackintosh as one of our finest young writers’ The Bookseller<\/i><\/b>
If you eat the bread, you’ll die, he said. The statement made no sense, but it filled me with an electric dread.<\/i><\/p>\n
Elodie is the baker’s wife. A plain, unremarkable woman, ignored by her husband and underestimated by her neighbours, she burns with the secret desire to be extraordinary. One day a charismatic new couple appear in town – the ambassador and his sharp-toothed wife, Violet – and Elodie quickly falls under their spell. All summer long she stalks them through the shining streets: inviting herself into their home, eavesdropping on their coded conversations, longing to be part of their world.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, beneath the tranquil surface of daily life, strange things are happening. Six horses are found dead in a sun-drenched field, laid out neatly on the ground like an offering. Widows see their lost husbands walking up the moonlit river, coming back to claim them. A teenage boy throws himself into the bonfire at the midsummer feast. A dark intoxication is spreading through the town, and when Elodie finally understands her role in it, it will be too late to stop.<\/p>\n
Audacious and mesmerising, Cursed Bread<\/i> is a fevered confession, an entry into memory’s hall of mirrors, a fable of obsession and transformation. Sophie Mackintosh spins a darkly gleaming tale of a town gripped by hysteria, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.<\/p>\n
Praise for Sophie Mackintosh:
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‘Be sure to read everything Sophie Mackintosh writes’ Deborah Levy on Blue Ticket<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘An extraordinary debut – otherworldly, luminous, precise’<\/b> Guardian on The Water Cure<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Dreamlike, tense, compelling, with a pitch-perfect ending’ The New York Times <\/i>on Blue Ticket<\/i><\/p>\n
‘An unsettling dark fantasy… It lingers long after the final page’ Daily Telegraph<\/i> on The Water Cure<\/i>
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‘Blue Ticket<\/i> will worm its way under your skin and haunt your dreams’ Red<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A chilling feminist fable, based on the true story of an unsolved historical mystery. Audacious and mesmerising, ‘Cursed Bread’ is a fevered confession, an entry into memory’s hall of mirrors, a fable of obsession and transformation. Sophie Mackintosh spins a darkly gleaming tale of a town gripped by hysteria, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[216],"product_tag":[206,5289,69,762],"class_list":["post-97407","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-fiction-hardback","product_tag-crime-mystery","product_tag-erotic-fiction","product_tag-historical-fiction","product_tag-science-fiction","pa_book_author-mackintosh-sophie","pa_cover-hardback","pa_dewey-823-92-edition23","pa_edition-hardback-original","pa_imprint-hamish-hamilton","pa_language-english","pa_pages-8757","pa_publisher-hamish-hamilton","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","onbackorder","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n