The Cat Bride
by Charlotte Tierney
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Pub Date 7 Apr 2025 | Archive Date 8 Mar 2025
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Description
The heatwave of 1995. Sixteen years since an infamous tiger-lynx hybrid escaped a small moorland zoo and ate someone. Sixteen years since the animal was euthanised. Sixteen years for the zoo to fall into disrepair. Then sixteen-year-old convalescent Lowdy, and her Mumma, are forced to move to the remote old zoo to care for her dying grandmother, and rumours of the animal stalking the moors resurface. Vengeful locals blame the three women for the predator on the loose. Mumma insists all the cats are dead. Grandma whispers that the ‘tynx’ needs to be fed. Lowdy, still recovering from her own mysterious illness, begins to wonder who she can trust. Can she even trust herself when she wakes up covered in ticks with no recollection of the night before? As Lowdy searches for the truth – the truth of her childhood, what it means to be a woman, and the truth about the cats – she realises something feral runs in the blood, something she cannot ignore. Much more than simply the wry horror of a young woman’s beastly metamorphosis, The Cat Bride views the eerie liminality of teenaged girls through a pastoral gothic fug of lairy nineties lads, booze and fags.
A Note From the Publisher
The Cat Bride appeals to nineties nostalgia, while also exploring whether the rose-tinted image of the culture and stability of the time masks something insidiously damaging.
Advance Praise
‘The Cat Bride is as lushly hallucinatory as it is fierce. Shirley-Jackson-esque in tone, black humour, and spirit, I was mesmerised from page one.’ —Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts
‘This book is a raw, gorgeous and deeply strange delight. It lures you into its shadowy, slippery world and doesn’t let go. Rich with visceral beauty and dreamy oddness, Lowdy’s story – if you choose to believe it – is smart, knowing and wildly compelling.’ —Hazel Barkworth, author of Heatstroke and The Drownings
‘The Cat Bride perches between the unearthly realm of fairytale and the feral tumult of adolescence; wielding both with absolute assurance to tell a devastating story. I was captivated from page one.’ —Matt Wesolowski, author of Six Stories
Marketing Plan
PUBLICITY PLAN
‘The Cat Bride is as lushly hallucinatory as it is fierce. Shirley-Jackson-esque in tone, black humour, and spirit, I was mesmerised from page one.’
Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts
STRATEGY
• Position The Cat Bride as a unique literary horror novel from an exciting new voice in the genre – both a classic animal transformation tale as well as a mesmerising exploration of gender, desire and restraint set in 90s Britain
• Early copies to be sent to key authors, influencers and horror reviewers in order to garner early quotes and build buzz including CJ Tudor, Matt Wesolowski, Eliza Clark, Daisy Johnson, Lauren Archer, Edward Carey, AL Kennedy, Heather Parry, Kirsty Logan, Adam Leslie, Lisa Tuttle, Jamie Buxton, Alison Flood, James Lovegrove, Suzi Feay, Amanda Craig, John Connolly, Laura Purcell. Proof copies for possible endorsement have already been requested by Matt Wesolowski, Adam S. Leslie, Kirsty Logan and Ben Tufnell.
• Drive an effective reviews campaign, targeting literary and horror review slots across the national press and magazines.
• Work with Charlotte to draw out angles for feature and interview, such as the allure of body horror, animal metamorphosis in horror and the origins of ‘animal brides,’ and develop a Q&A exploring these themes and more, as well as Charlotte’s own writing journey.
MEDIA TARGETS
Print review targets to include
• national press and magazines such as The Guardian, The Observer, The Times, The Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Financial Times, Stylist, New Statesman, The Spectator, Literary Review, The Big Issue, TLS, Strong Words.
• specialist press such as SFX, SciFiNow, Starburst
Feature targets to include The Guardian, i news, The Big Issue.
Broadcast interview targets include BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, Front Row and the upcoming new books programme, BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Ulster, Times Radio.
Pitch Charlotte for podcast interviews such as Confessions of a Debut Novelist, Write and Wrong, This Is Horror, A Pair of Bookends, Field Ramble and Ginger Nuts of Horror.
Online feature and review targets to include Bookanista, CrimeFictionLover, This Is Horror, SciFiNow.
Pitch Charlotte for festivals, both literary and specialist throughout 2024, including Cymera Festival, Capital Crime, UK Ghost Story Festival, Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival, Fowey Festival of Arts.
Proposed KPIs:
1-2 print reviews
1+ features (print and online)
1+ interviews (print, online and broadcast)
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781784633622 |
| PRICE | £10.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 320 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Vicki R, Reviewer
This is one of the most unique horror novels I've ever read! Part mental illness, part supernatural and completely eerie! I loved it and look forward to reading more from this author.
Marisellia G, Educator
Broody, reflective, atmospheric, felt reminiscent of V. C. Andrews. I have never read a zoo gothic before, so that alone is really interesting. The story might have benefited from a faster pace. There are cycles of gaslighting, memory loss, and child abuse, but they spin out rather than spiral into tension. The story grew tiring and killed the tension. I did like the ending scene a lot, but the story didn't feel over yet. It was also very funny and full of trivia, which I did enjoy.
Kathryn M, Reviewer
I really enjoyed this as a horror novel, it had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel of this. The idea of a tiger-lynx worked well with the horror concept. I was invested in what was happening and thought the characters worked well in this universe. Charlotte Tierney has a strong writing style and am excited for more.
Reviewer 142279
This has a unique blend of different horror tropes that makes the book pretty original. The horror is not written on my nose and I appreciate that. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to review a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rachel D, Reviewer
I really enjoyed this horror novel. It was unique and definitely something new. That's exactly what the horror genre needs. I loved the folklore and mythology in this story. I have always been fascinated with everything about felines. Big and small. I will definitely recommend and buy this novel when it comes out
Russel M, Book Trade Professional
This was a surprisingly strange kind of book that played with perception, reality, and the readers' own sense of self along with Lowdy's. At times I was thinking of it as a modern, more feminist take on Banks's THE WASP FACTORY. It has the air of a dream about it, always on the verge of becoming a nightmare, and I absolutely adored that aspect. In short, its the kind of unusual, almost uncategorical book that only works in the hands of a hugely talented author -- and TIerney is clearly that author! Loved it and will be telling people who love unusual perspectives and uniquely powerful voices (like I do!) to check it out.
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