Edith Holler

“A dazzling bildungsroman…[Edith Holler] affirms the author’s standing as a major literary talent.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *starred review*

“A raucous romp…In ways both witty and dark, the novel brilliantly probes the distinctions between drama and real life, audience and performer, actor and character. The whimsical illustrations, all drawn by Carey himself, are the perfect accompaniment to a story about an art form as visual as it is verbal. A wonderfully strange and quirky tale about the power of penning and performing tales.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

“Edward Carey is an extraordinary craftsman, and Edith Holler is a masterpiece. Carey’s prose teems with wonderfully twisted humor and play, breathing life into the spirits that haunt its gothic framework. It is that special novel that makes you wonder why there aren’t more like it. The answer, of course, is that there is just one Edward Carey. Edith Holler is singular—a dark delight from beginning to end.” —ERIKA SWYLER

“Edith Holler is that rarest thing, a newly written tale that feels as though it’s been discovered behind the stacked stone walls of an abandoned estate. It’s eldritch, raucous, blistering, beautiful, and totally indelible.” —MARIA DAHVANA HEADLEY

“Brilliant and shiver-inducing, Edith Holler is a delightfully macabre achievement, equal parts Charles Dickens and Sweeney Todd. Through Edith’s keen eyes we come to know her family theatre and its many denizens—each a masterpiece of oddity—as well as the frightening newcomer who threatens to topple her very world. A bravura performance.” —HELENE WECKER