The Lamb by Lucy Rose
In this mesmerising Gothic debut, a mother and daughter in the Cumbrian forest prey on strays that cross their path
In this surreal literary debut, The Lamb follows Mama and Margot, her ‘Little One’, as they live in the Cumbrian forest, purposefully hidden away and waiting for strays to stumble across their path. When Eden turns up in the middle of winter, it quickly becomes clear she is no stray. The way they sate their hunger must change.
The relationship between women and girls takes centre stage, from twisted mother-daughter relationships and female friendships that linger on something romantic to women creating and destroying life together. Rose writes beautifully about the quotidian and the horrific, with Margot expressing a morbid curiosity and yet a distance from the world around her. The prose is dream-like with the story firmly rooted in place but timeless. The characters are at home in and rely on the rural landscape; this is in stark contrast to the concept of the city: a distant place which brings overconfident strays who become prey to the outdoors and those who understand it.
This is a bizarre coming-of-age novel, describing visions of girlhood in all its viscera, never shying away from the anger or abjection its characters experience. This novel explores consumption in all its forms, detailing a literal hunger as well as the toxic desperation of codependent love. A strange and bold debut from an exciting new voice for those who enjoy Julia Armfield, Kirsty Logan, and Daisy Johnson.
