SMOTHERMOSS
July 16, 2024
Tin House Books (US)
Titan Books (UK)
Order from Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your local indie bookstore
UK edition available from Waterstones, Amazon.co.uk
“Deliciously weird” – The New York Times
A haunting, imaginative, and twisting tale of two sisters and the menacing, unexplained forces that threaten them and their rural mountain community.
In 1980s Appalachia, life isn’t easy for Sheila. She endures relentless taunting and bullying at the hands of her classmates; she takes care of her great-aunt, the garden and home, and the rabbits; and forages for mushrooms in the forest, all while her mother works long, back-breaking shifts at the nearby state asylum. But it’s her peculiar little sister, Angie, who worries her the most. Angie is obsessed with nuclear war, Rambo, zombies, a Russian invasion of their community, and the ominous, tarot-like cards that she creates that somehow speak to her. As if all that weren’t enough, Sheila feels an unexplainable weight around her neck. Is it the ancient and strange mountain that they live on that casts its shadow on her, or something or someone else unknown? Unseen?
When a pair of female hikers are brutally murdered on the nearby Appalachian trail, Sheila and Angie find themselves inexorably drawn into the hunt for the killer. As the ever-present threat of violence looms larger, the mountain might be the only thing that can save them from the darkness consuming their home and their community.
Equal parts gruesome and gorgeous and otherworldly.
A compulsive journey through a wild, unknowable landscape and the wilder hearts of young girls
trying to understand themselves and find their way to each other.
– New York Times Book Review
Unique…evocative, and certainly without contemporary comparison.
This an author doing outstanding work; don’t miss this rural literary explosion that resonates long after the final page is turned.
– Locus Magazine
For those obsessed with Appalachian lore comes a hauntingly atmospheric tale toeing the line of a twisted fairy tale. Centered on two sisters growing up in 1980s Appalachia, this novel is a gothic and propulsive read that will dazzle you from start to finish.
– Barnes & Noble, A Most Anticipated Debut of 2024
This beautifully strange book of the mountains is alarming and inspiring.
Alisa Alering’s Smothermoss goes fearlessly toward realities dismantled by violence and the weird, wonderful world of the woods.
– Samantha Hunt, author of The Unwritten Book
At the heart of this story are two sisters, the mountain on which they live, and the persistent question as to which is more perilous, the natural world or the unnatural. Beautifully written, tense and absorbing, Smothermoss is an original story from a truly gifted storyteller.
—Karen Joy Fowler, author of Booth
Rich, strange, and beautiful, simultaneously eerie and so very honest. An exciting first novel.
– Kij Johnson, author of The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium, and Large Stories