Rouge

By (author) Awad Mona
Short description/annotation:
The breath-taking new novel from the author of Bunny.
Description:

From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty.

Can she escape her mother’s fate and find a connection that is more than skin deep?

A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 in The Guardian, i newspaper, The New York Times, Time, Globe and Mail, Bustle, The Millions, LitHub, TOR, Good Housekeeping, Our Culture Mag, and more!

''You think, “She’s not going to go there…yes, she is.'' Margaret Atwood 

''The trancelike, rhapsodic language and deepening atmosphere of unreality make for a narrative that oozes with unease.'' The Guardian

‘Rouge is a must-read for anyone who has found themselves obsessively, and even dangerously, fixated on self-improvement. [...] Dreamline, hypnotic and enchanting in its language, Rouge proves Awad is a huge talent’ Stylist, Book of the Month

For as long as she can remember, Belle has been obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.

Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

Review quote:
‘A tale of insidious damage of envy and our preoccupation with appearances. Anyone maintaining a ten-step Korean skincare regimen may feel seen. […] Awad ramps up the grand guignol hysteria rather splendidly, chucking in some film noir tropes for good measure as we hurtle towards a demonic denouement’ The Times

‘Rouge is a story in which dreams become nightmares and vice versa. Desire and danger walk hand-in-hand and Awad skilfully manipulates the vertiginous tension between them. The beauty industry is ripe for Awad’s signature treatment: gothic satire, bloody but beautifully done. Much of it is darkly hilarious. […] If you like your fairy tales dark and for adults only, then stick along for the wild ride.’  Daily Telegraph

''[D]ark and seductive.'' i newspaper

''An edgy fable on the perils of our modern fascination with beauty.'' Vogue 

''Awad is a genius, preternaturally gifted at creating vicious, hilarious tales about the depravity inside us.'' Vulture

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