by Kyra Wilder

Publication date: 24 February 2025 - pre-order special offer till publication date

Drawing on Greek mythology, Kyra Wilder’s anticipated second novel is a psychological thriller with feminist bite.  
In rural California, apple farmer and passionate cook Lee runs an alternative therapy programme for anorexic girls. Gloss describes Lee’s seemingly benevolent methods and the long-term effects of conditioning and mind control on his young charges. As the story reaches its surreal climax, the girls discover both the negligence of the US criminal justice system and the cathartic delights of personal revenge.

Ari, Eleni and Hesper, three young women struggling with an unnamed eating disorder, meet one summer at Golden Apples Farm, an alternative treatment facility run by the charismatic Lee. A year later, they reunite to testify at his trial.
Gloss transposes the Greek myth of the Hesperides to Marin County, California at the turn of the millennium. Wilder elaborates a kaleidoscopic picture of trauma through a series of short chapters which alternate between the protagonists’ perspectives, uncovering new possibilities for all that a girl is and may become.

See Paul Fulcher's five-star review on Goodreads.

'A subtle, powerful and compact novel. A strong contender for the 2025 Women's Prize.' — Paul Fulcher

Praise for Kyra Wilder’s debut Little Bandaged Days:

‘Beautifully written and frighteningly honest, this feverish debut delivers a brave appraisal of a woman’s spiral into madness.’
— Eithne Farry, Sunday Express

‘Gripping, composed, observant, wonderfully written and extravagantly cruel.[…] The story comes closer to reality when it dramatises something wider: the performance of an enviable lifestyle, and the various miseries that make this performance possible.’
— Daisy Hildyard, Guardian

‘Wilder artfully cranks up the tension, so you don't quite know when you begin to hold your breath. A chilling read’
— Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of My Sister, the Serial Killer

Paperback original, with endpapers
250 pages, 180 x 120 mm
ISBN 978-1-7397783-5-4

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