We’re like the women before us, Arc. We carry great terrors on our backs. We take them to bed with us the same demons.

Twins Arc and Daffy live in the industrial town of Chillicothe, Ohio. Living with their mother and aunt in the shadow of addiction, poverty and prostitution, the girls cling to each other and a imaginations; telling each other stories that take bad situations or occurrences different ending. But danger and threat lurks all around and, years later, the sisters find themselves walking a similar path to the women before them. Still, they and their friends, the Chillicothe Queens, find solace and strength in each other, and the stories they share. Then bodies start to appear in the river; women floating facedown.  

What lifts this book above the harrowing content, of which there really is a lot, is the beautiful writing with which McDaniel weaves the myths and stories into her characters’ daily lives; myths and stories that allow them, even if only momentarily, to rise above the brutality, injustice, neglect and senseless violence that surrounds them; myths and stories imbued with the feminine power in the natural world around them. The river gives, the river receives, the river carries, and she is a woman; the woods are a woman who walks alone; a beautiful dark mare sometimes appears to Arc, in support or warning. The women draw strength from the natural world all around them and the skies above them. There is also so much love between the women; between the twins and their friends; and between the twins and the amazing Mamaw Milkweed; and they all sparkle as individuals with their stories, their hopes, their dreams. 

This book is devastating, stunning, powerful. The writing is lyrical, bound up in place, in the power of nature, in female lore and superstition. It’s not an easy read by any means but, as often is the case, at the heart of fiction inspired by devastating true stories – the book is dedicated to the Chillicothe Six victims whose murders remain unsolved –  is the wish to not forget; to give voice back to voices that were silenced.

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On the Savage Side was published by W&N in 2023.

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Tiffany McDaniel is an Ohio native and international bestselling author whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and woods of the land she knows. Drawing from her Cherokee heritage, she is a poet, a novelist, and a visual artist. She is the winner of over a dozen literary prizes, including the Guardian’s Not the Booker, the Ohioana Reader’s Choice Award, Friends of American Writers Chicago, the Society of Midland Authors, and the FNAC. She lives with six cats and a dog surrounded by the trees and wildlife that she loves. When not writing, she may be found in the garden or walking in the woods.

Her debut Middle Grade fantasy series is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, August 27, 2024.

Tiffany was awarded the prestigious title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in July 2021.