#128 in Horror
The Lamb
- 336
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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Our view
Gruesome on the surface and a family story at heart, “The Lamb” is folk horror about a girl and her man-eating mother. Some readers value most the tangled bond between mother and daughter and the way it treats grief, while others are swept through it in a single sitting. Its shocks, though, strike some as too blunt and the book as long and repetitive.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
One of my favourite debuts in a long time' KIRSTY LOGAN 'Superbly creepy . . . at heart it's about dysfunctional family dynamics, female rage and empowerment' FINANCIAL TIMES 'An unforgettable, nightmarish tale. I ate it all up' ANNA BOGUTSKAYA A FOLK TALE. A HORROR STORY. A LOVE STORY. AN ENCHANTMENT. Margot and Mama have lived by the forest since Margot can remember. When Margot isn't at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Strays, Mama calls them. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she satisfies her burning appetite by picking apart their bodies. But Mama's want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, little Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires and make a bid for freedom. With this tender coming-of-age tale, debut novelist Lucy Rose explores how women swallow their anger, desire and animal instincts - and wrings the relationship between mother and daughter until blood drips from it. 'Stunning, shocking and surprising at each turn' BENJAMIN MYERS 'A modern Grimm fairytale' SUSAN BARKER 'Dark, poetic, gothic, folky and full of courage and beauty' TIM DOWNIE 'Dear reader, I predict you will be as obsessed as me' MOLLY AITKEN 'Lucy Rose can certainly write . . . The Lamb grips all the way to an unexpected denouement' GUARDIAN
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 110 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 43% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Horror average of 7.5. That is how 7.5 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 110 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Lamb?
It has 336 pages — shorter than 71% of the ranked books in Horror.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Horror — and a score of 7.5, the closest to this book.
