Strays

By: Laura Venita Green

Published by Unnamed Press, 2025-10-07

<p><b>Forthcoming from the publisher of Chelsea G. Summers' <i>A Certain Hunger</i> </b></p> <p><b>"Captivating and sublime... and centered on a cast of women bound to their roots in unexpected ways, this is a book that interchanges the tender and the cruel, the weird and the real, with breathtaking ease." -Jinwoo Chong, author of <i>I Leave It Up to You</i></b></p> <p>In the muggy, insect-ridden town of Pinecreek, Louisiana, college dropout Tess Lavigne is watching two bickering siblings while their parents are away. Her listless day drinking is interrupted when someone emerges from the woods behind the house. Filthy and feral, the daughter of religious fundamentalists, the girl known in town as Sister Gail convinces Tess to take her in for the night. The strange events of that evening will set the course for Tess's future, and Sister Gail's ultimate fate. </p> <p>Meanwhile, other residents of Pinecreek try to cobble together a future from what little they have, their lives intersecting in small and not-so-small ways. Sisters fight to define independence for themselves (and from each other), while two young women on a bicycling trip wonder what their relationship promises, or threatens. Throughout, a deeply unsettling presence connects the characters to the buried secrets of Pinecreek: the ominous Thea, a malevolent shape-shifting entity whose rage and despair stems from a tragic history of misogyny, maternal loss, and stolen ambitions. </p> <p>As time marches forward, so does Tess, creating a new path for herself while accepting what can never be entirely left behind. At times atmospheric and eerie, and at others all too real, <i>Sister Creatures</i> is about manufacturing resilience from nothing but the bonds that tie us together. </p>