Genre: Literary fiction, horror
What is ‘Woman Eating’ about? “Lydia, a young, mixed-race vampire, must find a way to balance her deep-seated desire to live amongst humans with her incessant hunger. As she develops as a woman and an artist while living in London, away from her mother for the first time, she will learn that she must reconcile the conflicts within her — between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans if she is to find a way to exist in the world. Before any of this, however, she must eat.”
Why you should read it: In Claire Kohda’s Woman, Eating, we get a fresh, new spin on the typical vampire lore — her debut novel is a bleak, thought-provoking, bite-size literary wonder that left my mind reeling and my stomach growling (you’ll no doubt devour this melancholy, gorgeously written book in one sitting). It’s another stellar addition to the character-driven Sad Fucked Up Women trend that is all over literary fiction right now, with its sparse prose and subdued plotting. Like a Sally Rooney or Otessa Moshfegh novel, only the main character’s favorite food is pig’s blood.
