{"product_id":"the-stepdaughter-by-caroline-blackwood-9780349019468","title":"The Stepdaughter","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDiscover Caroline Blackwood's darkly brilliant debut - a perfect rediscovered classic for fans of Shirley Jackson and Ottessa Moshfegh\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003e'A bracingly nasty book . . . Splendid, dark, often very funny' \u003ci\u003eMEGAN NOLAN, Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA lavish Upper West Side apartment is the site of a familial cold war about to enter a phase of dangerous escalation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJ is a lonely woman without the luxury of being alone. Her husband has fled to Paris with his latest flame, leaving J with not only their own four-year-old daughter, Sally Ann, but the sulky, cake-mix addicted, thirteen-year-old Renata, a leftover from his previous marriage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWriting letters in her head to imaginary friends, J delights in dwelling on the hapless Renata, who 'invites a kind of cruelty'. This is an invitation J fully intends to take up - and like so many stepmothers before her, she will find that wickedness, once indulged, is a difficult habit to kick. A mordant black splinter of a book, \u003cem\u003eCaroline Blackwood's\u003c\/em\u003e first novel is a testament to her razor-sharp mastery - and mockery - of the darkest depths of human feeling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003e'Contained and ferocious' \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003e'Punchy . . . a clever and perfectly formed novel' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003e'One of the greatest, darkest writers who ever lived' \u003ci\u003eVIRGINIA FEITO\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003e'Witty, observant, clever' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003ci\u003e'The perfect book for people who find Joan Didion too even-keeled, Renata Adler too fair-minded . . . In its own way, it's a perfect novel . . . It deserves to be a cheeky summer hit' \u003cb\u003eLA REVIEW OF BOOKS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003e'Blackwood was in fact a writer of rare distinction, the author of wit-drenched books about the wages of class, women's inhumanity to women, bitchiness, greed, abjection, family, monsters' \u003ci\u003eNEW YORKER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003e'Caroline Blackwood sits firmly alongside the greats like Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith. Her writing is smart, economical and as dark as night' \u003ci\u003eARAMINTA HALL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47428328390892,"sku":"9780349019468","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780349019468.jpg?v=1774477606","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-stepdaughter-by-caroline-blackwood-9780349019468","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}