Restless in life and just out of a relationship, Iris moves back in with her mother. Walking the fields one day, she sees a woman; there is something magnetic, seductive, a bit unkempt about the woman, who she comes to know as Hazel, and who will lead her to Breach House, a rural refuge of sorts in the Kent Downs for women in need of respite, recuperation, renewal. Here she finds a group of women in some way rejecting society and the disappointment, even the violence of men, under the wing of the formidable Blythe, large in stature and presence. This is a place of solidarity and empowerment, for women to be themselves, to lift each other up, to grow their own food, and create a safe and sustainable all-female haven; but is it really? Under the sweltering summer sun, Iris begins to notice situations, dynamics, actions and reactions that leave her uneasy, and this idyllic scenario slowly unravels into a nightmare after a misguided invitation to the farm sets off a chain of dark events.

With strong cultish vibes, tense throughout and at times suffocating, Spoilt Creatures explores what happens when idyllic visions and brutal reality collide. In this isolated, contained setting, these women’s grievances with the external world morph into grievances with each other, and the house is brimming with mistrust, manipulation, rage and a thirst for retribution. Even in the occasional moments of sisterhood, of tenderness, there is an uneasiness, a sense of volatility lurking beneath the surface. Infatuated with Hazel from the start, Iris desperately wants to connect with her, rise to her challenges, manage her subtle cruelties, make Hazel need her the way she needs Hazel. There is an assuredness, a sharpness, and a visceral quality to the writing style that captures first the playfulness, then the feral depths the women fall to away from the expectations of society. Exploring themes including the need to belong, parent-child relationships, vulnerability and isolation, manipulation, power struggles and female rage, this is a dark, unsettling read and a striking debut. 

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Spoilt Creatures is published by Tinder Press on June 6th. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the DRC.

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Amy Twigg was born and raised in Kent, where her obsession with remote landscapes and gypsy tarts began. After studying Creative Writing at university, she moved to Surrey where she works as a freelance copywriter. Her debut novel Spoilt Creatures won the BPA Pitch Prize and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition and Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award. She is also an alumnus of the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course. Spoilt Creatures is a lead title for Tinder Press (June 2024), and Amy was selected as an Observer Best New Novelist of the year.