The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Burn Our Bodies Down, Rory Power

Burn Our Bodies Down

Rory Power

"Hits like a lightning strike." --Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girls comes a feverishly twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery--until she decides to return to her mother's hometown . . . where history has a tendency to repeat itself.

It's always just been Margot and her mother, struggling to get along. But Margot wants more. She wants family. She wants a past. And she may have just found a clue: an old photograph of her mother's, pointing Margot to a town called Phalene.

Yet when Margot gets there, she feels it in her gut--there's something not right about Phalene. The towering fields of dying corn, odd looks from the locals . . . Then a mysterious girl who could be Margot's twin is pulled from a fire, and Margot realizes that her mother left this town for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or to protect Margot from what's still here?

The only thing Margot knows for sure is there's poison in her family tree, and its roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she's here, she might never escape.

Praise for Burn Our Bodies Down:
3 STARRED REVIEWS!

"Gritty and strange, this sophomore novel is utterly compelling." --Booklist, starred review

"Creates a vivid world with a gothic horror-like setting. . . . A riveting, often frightening read." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Strong, suspenseful writing and pitch-perfect touches of horror." --Shelf Awareness, starred review

Book Details

  • Publisher: Delacorte Press
  • Publish Date: Jul 7th, 2020
  • Pages: 352
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.60in - 1.10in - 0.95lb
  • EAN: 9780525645634
  • Recommended age: 14-UP
  • Categories: Girls & WomenSocial Themes - FriendshipMysteries & Detective Stories

About the Author

Rory Power grew up in Boston, received her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College, and went on to earn an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Massachusetts. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down. To learn more about Rory, go to itsrorypower.com and follow @itsrorypower on Twitter and Instagram.

Praise for this book

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

"Power's evocative, haunting, and occasionally gruesome debut will challenge readers to ignore its bewitching presence." --Booklist, starred review

"This gritty, lush debut chronicling psychological and environmental tipping points...weaves a chilling narrative that disrupts readers' expectations through an expertly crafted, slow-burn reveal of the deadly consequences of climate change....Part survival thriller, part post-apocalyptic romance, and part ecocritical feminist manifesto, a staggering gut punch of a book." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"An ode to empowering women and a testament to the strength of female bonds....Far more than just an unsettling horror story, this powerful debut novel about a strange disease at an all-girls boarding school explores female empowerment, friendship and survival with tenacity and brilliance." --Shelf Awareness, starred review

"Electric prose, compelling relationships, and visceral horror illuminate Power's incisive debut...[and its] environmental and feminist themes are resonant, particularly the immeasurable costs of experimentation on female bodies, and the power of female solidarity and resilience amid ecological and political turmoil." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Tightly coiled narration moves between quietly reserved to vividly but coldly detailed, doubling the horror." --Bulletin

"Your new favorite book." --Cosmopolitan

"Everything about this thrilling, unnerving debut will make you want to immediately read it. For fans of Mindy McGinnis and Gillian French." --Paste

"Wilder Girls is so sharp and packs so much emotion in such wise ways. I'm convinced we're about to witness the emergence of a major new literary star." --Jeff VanderMeer, author of the New York Times bestseller Annihilation

"Wilder Girls is the bold, imaginative, emotionally wrenching horror novel of my dreams--one that celebrates the resilience of girls and the earthshaking power of their friendships. An eerie, unforgettable triumph." --Claire Legrand, New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn

"A nightmarish survival story that's as much literary fiction as it is young adult...I couldn't look away." --Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White, and Royal Blue

"The eeriness of Raxter Island permeates every scene, and Rory Power's characters are fierce and honest, blazing from the pages. This is a groundbreaking speculative story--brutal and beautiful, raw and unflinching. I adored this book." --Emily Suvada, author of This Mortal Coil

"A feminist, LGBT+, sci-fi-horror story with all the tantalizing elements of gore, mystery, war, and love you can ask for. Real, flawed, brave girls against a world gone mad. A shudderingly good read!" --Dawn Kurtagich, author of Teeth in the Mist