Slashed Beauties

Praise for Slashed Beauties

“Rushby takes readers on a globe-trotting, timeline-straddling journey…brisk and entertaining… Rushby’s characters are richly realized, and she doesn’t shy away from depicting the high risk of their lives as sex workers or society’s cruelty and indifference toward women on the margins. Tense and fast-paced with refreshingly unique supernatural elements.” – Publishers Weekly

“Deftly pivoting between the past and the present day, Rushby constructs an ingeniously menacing plot that slowly suffuses readers with a growing sense of dread, only to be shattered by the book’s jaw-dropping conclusion…A fiercely feminist take on gothic fiction.” – Library Journal (starred review)

“As the timelines converge, readers will be treated to a bewitching tale that shines a light on the horrific realities for women of the era and an original, terrifying, and compelling supernatural horror story.” – Booklist

“Rushby’s prose is lush and vivid, her characters are tragically complex…Ferociously feminist body horror with a sentimental heart.” – Kirkus

“A feminist body horror that’s the perfect fall escape… While deftly exploring themes of bodily autonomy, queer love, and female friendship, A. Rushby paints a gripping portrait of the historical confinement of women and the lengths that the exploited will go to in search of revenge.” – Ms. Magazine

“Slashed Beauties is the warped, witchy lovechild of Madame Tussaud and Jack the Ripper – an engrossing gothic tale of friendship, misogyny, and the murderous consequence of denying women’s autonomy.” – Ellie Marney, New York Times bestselling author of None Shall Sleep

“Utterly compelling from the first page to the final, shocking twist, Slashed Beauties is a darkly exquisite story that explores the corrosive effects of misogyny and the enduring power of female love.” – Christine Wells, author of The Paris Gown

“An extraordinary tale. Slashed Beauties left me spellbound.’”– Emma Grey, author of Pictures of You

“Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year… Captivating from start to end and tells a haunting tale of feminine rage.” – Abbie Eaton, author of Dragonhart

“Adored this gorgeous, sumptuously gothic feminist novel. Slashed Beauties moves from present-day Seoul to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens of Georgian London in a colourful riot that examines the macabre world of the anatomical Venus and the seedy underbelly of the modern-day antiques trade, with a dash of witchcraft thrown in. It’s also about sisterhood, friendship and the ties that bind a beautifully-rendered love story that spans centuries. I loved it.” – Emma Cowing, author of The Show Woman