'A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle. Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.
'Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
'When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.'
Rachel Harrison is quickly becoming a name to keep an eye on. Thanks to her work on Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth it's clear that she is a wonderful new voice in the world of feminist horror, and her third book is no exception to this.
Black Sheep follows Vesper, a woman in her twenties who fled from her deeply religious cult upbringing as soon as she turned eighteen. Moving to the big city, she's been stuck working a crappy waitressing job that she hates, dealing with shitty customers, and an atmosphere that is slowly wearing her down (don't make her do the birthday song anymore please). However, when she receives an invitation to a wedding back home it makes her think that perhaps she might be able to return, to face her family, and deal with some of the ghosts of her past.
With Vesper's cousin Rose marrying Vesper's ex on the family farm things are perhaps too tempting for her to pass up, and Vesper heads home for the first time in years. Unfortunately, she soon discovers the toxic world she left behind still exists, and has been waiting for her. Whether it's her former horror films star mother, Constance, or the rest of her family, she struggles to find much in her former life to like. However, soon secrets begin to emerge, secrets that could change things for Vesper forever.
Can you ever really go home again? Black Sheep asks that question in a delightfully engrossing and subtly creepy way, and its use of slowly unfolding mystery and character study makes for a deeply engrossing read that you'll find hard to put down.
Vesper herself is a prime example of the kind of great protagonists that Harrison is great at writing. She's delightfully complex, and often something of a messy person that I think a lot of readers will find things to identify with. She's not perfect, she's got failings, and she feels brutally honest in a lot of ways, and that honesty will draw people to her story. No matter how horrific, or even bizarre, things get things feel grounded in large part due to Vesper, and readers connection to her will have you reading longer than you intended, devouring the book as quickly as you can.
Unfortunately, Black Sheep is also the kind of book where I can't say too much about it for fear of accidentally giving away too much or spoiling things. It's a book that you're going to have to pick up and try out yourself if you want to learn more. What I can say though, is that the things that have made Harrison's other novels a success can be found here, and that there are some delightfully dark and cinematic moments that leap off the page and will stick with you long after you've put the book down.
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