The Unmothers

Debut author Anderson crafts a truly unsettling gothic horror story. Reporter Carolyn Marshall is still recovering from her husband’s death and the miscarriage he never knew about when she’s sent to rural Raeford to follow up on a strange story: a horse has given birth to a healthy human infant, with a local teen claiming to be the father. Marshall finds an isolated, desolate, and deeply superstitious town, unwelcoming to outsiders. After someone releases a local barn’s horses and an immigrant worker is found murdered, Marshall thinks she might be on the trail of a more urgent and plausible story. As she builds rapport with the horse baby’s father and discovers the mundane troubles of this tight-knit community, she also pulls back the curtain on a looming supernatural threat. Anderson never builds the pervasive theme of pregnancy to a particular point, but her clear love for horse girls and an implicit acceptance of women’s competence despite gendered discrimination give the novel a strongly feminist tone. In the end, she pulls off an impressive trick by providing a satisfying conclusion while still leaving readers with a lingering sense of mystery. Horror fans will be rattled. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary. (Aug.)