The Corpses We Planted

In this enthralling modern fairy tale, two sisters grapple with the dark past of their Swedish village and the possibility of escape—from the acclaimed author of The Devil’s Grip.

“It’s this village,” I said.
“How do you mean?”
“Foolish and horrific at one and the same time.”
“That is so true, Jolly. Someone ought to write about it.”

Jolly and Peggy grow up as foster kids in a village in the depths of the southernmost county of Sweden. It is a place that brings out the best and the worst in people, a place of legends and truths, as vibrant as it is ill-fated. Peggy dreams of a different life, one of books and academia, while it becomes Jolly’s responsibility to make sense of their strange upbringing. The ghost of the 19th-century author, the violence that seems to sprout from the ground, taking root inside the villagers and warping their foster family’s role in the community. Not to mention the book that is rumored to be bound in human skin, the countless murders, and the sense of shame that is synonymous with living in a cursed place.

A chilling tale of courage and hope, The Corpses We Planted speaks to the powerful bond between sisters and the remarkable light that can emerge from darkness.