Don't Leave Her Alone

By (author) de Fez, Desirée; Translated by Davis, Lizzie
Short description/annotation:
For fans of The Substance and Titane comes DON''T LEAVE HER ALONE, the debut novel from Spain''s most celebrated and internationally renowned horror film consultant that tells the story of a mother and two sisters - each also a mother to young children - linked by the tentacles that live inside them.
Description:

Rooted in the unsettling familiarity of a suburban shopping mall and the halo of childhood nostalgia, DON''T LEAVE HER ALONE is both an eerie and witty portrait of what happens when fear is left unchecked - festering within us until it consumes us from the inside out.

''A darkly enchanted expedition into the eviscerating oblivion of motherhood. de Fez writes with her sharpest knife'' Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch

Alba has spent her life unable to be alone, clinging to the presence of others to silence the anxieties she refuses to face. But when she wakes up on the floor of a shopping mall, covered in blood and with only fragmented memories of how she got there, she is forced to confront the truth she has long avoided. Meanwhile, her sister Diana struggles to balance the pressures of motherhood and work, while their mother, Carmen, remains trapped in an endless cycle of sacrifice and duty, caring for her daughters and grandchildren.

As Christmas Eve approaches, the tension between them becomes unbearable and what once seemed like ordinary family struggles transforms into a surreal nightmare. As the tensions the three women have long held in explode, they''re finally forced to confront the terror that connects them.

Haunting, cinematic, and strikingly visceral, Desiree''s novel is an incisive exploration of motherhood that interrogates women''s struggle for autonomy and identity and ultimately forces the question: what does it take to finally break free?

''Full of tenderness and delirium, moving between suburban realism and fairy tale'' Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night

Review quote:
Being mothers and being daughters can feel like body horror and that is what Desiree de Fez''s brilliant debut novel does: it turns bonds of intense love into torn bodies, glitter, and anxiety. Don''t Leave Her Alone is full of tenderness and delirium, moving between suburban realism and fairy tale.
Review quote:
Don''t Leave Her Alone captures that special kind of neuroticism intrinsic to each family. The obligation of mothers to their daughters, of sisters to each other, erupts with enough blood and viscera to make Clive Barker proud. Desirée de Fez delivers a Christmas miracle in the darkest way possible.
Review quote:
Don''t Leave Her Alone is an eldritch Pedro Almodovar nightmare, charting those liminal terrors found beyond the boundaries of the human body, where flesh itself is not safe
Review quote:
Compelling to the point of hypnotic, a tender and visceral study of mothers, daughters and sisters that recalls the best of King, Enriquez and Almodóvar, but which is ultimately uniquely its own. A gem
Review quote:
A darkly enchanted expedition into the eviscerating oblivion of motherhood. de Fez writes with her sharpest knife
Biographical note:
Desirée de Fez (Author)
Desirée de Fez is one of Europe''s foremost experts in fantasy and horror literature and film. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked with some of the world''s most significant independent film production companies and has advised Spanish, Latin American, and American producers and directors. Desirée is also a film critic, specialising in fantasy and horror cinema, and works as a programmer for an international film festival. Don''t Leave Her Alone is her debut novel.