VILE LADY VILLAINS (Adult, Horromantasy)
Penguin Michael Joseph (UK), April 2026 — Union Square & Co (US & Canada), Summer 2026
A WORLD-BURNING HORROMANTASY, BRINGING TOGETHER LITERATURE’S MOST FAMOUS LADY VILLAINS, LADY MACBETH AND KLYTEMNESTRA . . .
For fans of A Dowry of Blood, Clytemnestra, and Piranesi, Vile Lady Villains is an unforgettable ride into the realm of stories
Klytemnestra, queen of Mycenae, is exacting bloody vengeance on her husband, a vengeance a decade in the making. Yet as she revels in her triumph, an otherworldly door appears and a strange woman steps in. Thinking her a hostile spirit, Klytemnestra chases her away, getting them both trapped in that liminal realm.
Hunted by screaming wraiths and unable to find their way home, literature’s most vile lady villains form an uneasy, daggers-to-the-throat alliance to survive. But nothing in this world is what it seems: not the three witches and their ambiguous guidance, and certainly not the drunken Bard himself. The realm’s goddess, The Mistress of the House of Books, holds the keys to all storydoors—which can release the two women, and all the realm’s trapped characters, into new stories of their choosing.
As every threat brings our vile lady villains closer, turning ill intentions into fiery attraction, they have a choice: remain within the confines of their narratives, safe and apart … or burn down the world to pen their own story together.
