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Quaint Folk

folk horror meets cottage gore, from a Hugo Award-nominated horror author
Brief Description
The Wicker Man meets The Twisted Ones in Bitter Karella's Quaint Folk - a queer folk horror novel that peels back the idyllic veneer of a perfectly quaint island town to reveal the rot beneath. From the outside, it looks like Jessica has the perfect life.... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
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Releases 6th October 2026 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "Quaint Folk" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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The Wicker Man meets The Twisted Ones in Bitter Karella's Quaint Folk-a queer folk horror novel that peels back the idyllic veneer of a perfectly quaint island town to reveal the rot beneath.

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The Wicker Man meets The Twisted Ones in Bitter Karella's Quaint Folk - a queer folk horror novel that peels back the idyllic veneer of a perfectly quaint island town to reveal the rot beneath.

From the outside, it looks like Jessica has the perfect life. She's a stay-at-home mum, married to a man with a respectable job, raising a son they adore. Her family is as wholesome as all-American pie. But deep down, Jessica knows there's something wrong with her; she knows she can't escape her past.

When her husband's job has them move abroad, Jessica thinks this is her chance for a fresh start. On the remote island of Hasenhurst, the modern world can't get in. The people there grow their own herbs, make their own jam, and mind their own business. They believe in folk tales and the power of dreams. They tell visitors, we're a quaint, quiet people. The right sort of family would do well here.

Jessica is determined to be the right kind of person for a family - and a life - like this. But as she tries to befriend the townsfolk and learn their ways, she soon realises that beneath the town's cosy idyll, something sickly-sweet and rotten lies buried...

'To experience Bitter Karella's cheerfully unhinged fiction is to surrender to a spectacularly fierce and uncompromising literary force. Quaint Folk astonished me with its charming, mythical weirdness threaded with genuine moments of pure tenderness. A bold, potent brew of all the best elements of folk and queer horror'

Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780356528328

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 October 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Orbit

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Bitter Karella (he/she/they) is a two-time Hugo nominee and creator of the microfiction comedy account The Midnight Society (33.1K followers on Twitter/X). Beloved by the horror writing community and quoted in the Telegraph, The Midnight Society successfully crowdfunded three collections and is currently being adapted as an audio podcast. Karella writes gonzo psycho-sexual body horror with a grotesquely humorous edge. Their short story "Low Tide Jenny" was a winner of the Brave New Weird award for best new weird fiction. Karella lives in northern California with their partner, tarantula, and two cats.

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