‘An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood’s provocative first novel The Edible Woman’ JOYCE CAROL OATES
‘Intimate, nostalgic, and downright terrifying’ OLIVIA GATWOOD
‘An all-American fever dream’ LEE CLAY JOHNSON
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It starts with an itch.
In 1970s America, in homes across the country, women ages eighteen to thirty-five begin to slow down.
Tired. Blank. Restless.
Drawn to the Pacific Ocean like it’s calling them home, they abandon their lives — jobs, families, their very selves. And once they reach the West, they vanish forever.
At the center of the story are three young women caught in the pull of something unstoppable.
Aimee follows the trail of her missing best friend to a man called the Piper — known for leading infected women West.
Teenie, afflicted and unraveling, clings to a single memory as she looks out the window of the Piper’s van.
And Eve, a former journalist, is chasing the story that might just consume her . . .
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‘A speculative feminist road trip thriller unlike any other’ GINA CHUNG
‘Taut and shocking’ ANNA NORTH
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Imprint: Virago UK
Publication date: 10/03/2026
