Harpy

Lucy and Jake make their home in a house beside a field, under a sun that seems to blaze like a fireball. Lucy gave up her career to look after their children, keep their carefully balanced daily schedule, and tend the house, which holds her close like a worn, cunning companion. One afternoon a stranger phones with news that tears her life open: his wife has been sleeping with Jake. Rather than separate, the couple agree to stay married under an unusual deal meant to balance the wrongs and rescue what remains. Lucy will wound Jake three separate times. As they play this dangerous game of punishment and retribution, Lucy starts to change in mind and body, moving toward a transformation she cannot undo.

The novel is written in lyrical, rhythmic prose and reads as a dark fairy tale, mythic and strange yet sharply rooted in the present day. It explores love, marriage and how it breaks, along with power, control, vengeance, metamorphosis and the possibility of renewal. The author, Megan Hunter, is also known for her earlier novel The End We Start From.