A provocative novel about female bodies, friendships, and self-sacrifice, by the internationally acclaimed author of The Book of Guilt

Look at her. How serene she is in her long white dress, eyes closed like a stone copy of herself. Perhaps she lives on air…

Dumped by her boyfriend, fired from her job, estranged from her parents, Hazel Whitlock signs up for a sideshow act at the Blackpool seaside resort: she’ll play the Starving Bride. 

On display in the iconic Blackpool Tower, with a ravenous lion prowling the enclosure, Hazel must lie in silence while spectators pass judgement on her body. Time compresses and warps in this strange space, and the past returns to Hazel with full and shocking force, making her relive the defining, shameful incident of her youth.

As the days tick down and Hazel’s shrinking frame draws ever larger crowds, her old friend Gilda becomes increasingly worried for her welfare, while local councilman Frank Marsh warns that the tower could collapse at any minute. No one will listen—not even his daughter, obsessed with the bride inside.

One of New Zealand’s most celebrated novelists returns with this unsettling dissection of the appetites we hide, the ones we perform, and the price we pay to pretend.