Blood to Poison by Mary Watson
Seventeen-year-old Savannah is cursed. It's a sinister family heirloom; passed down through the bloodline for hundreds of years, with one woman in every generation destined to die young. The family call them Hella's girls, named for their ancestor Hella; the enslaved woman with whom it all began. Hella's girls are always angry, especially in the months before they die.
The anger is bursting from Savannah – at the men who cat-call her in the street, at her mother's disingenuous fiancé, even at her own loving family. Each fit of rage is bringing her closer to the edge and now Savannah has to act to save herself. Or die trying. Because the key to survival lies in the underbelly of Cape Town, where the sinister veilwitches are waiting for just such a girl.
Blood to Poison is a furious and mesmerising story about discovering magic, historical rage and love in all its guises.
About the Author
Mary Watson grew up in Cape Town during the apartheid years and did her Masters in Creative Writing with André Brink. She won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2006 and appeared on Hay Festival’s Africa39 list of influential writers. Mary now lives in Galway with her family. Blood to Poison is her third novel for young adults and the first rooted in her South African heritage.
Praise for Blood to Poison
Bold, visceral, and alive, from the hidden magic swirling under the everyday and mundane, to the slow unfolding of the depth of the curse and fight to break it … an absolute gut-punch of a novel.
Melinda Salisbury, author
A gripping, immersive story, and a powerful vindication of female anger, Blood to Poison is a stunning read.
Louise O’Neill, author
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Date Published: 14/4/22
Paperback, 384 pgs.
ISBN: 9781526619174
