Honno signs Crow Face, Doll Face

Honno is excited to announce the signing of Carly Holmes’ new novel, Crow Face, Doll Face, an uncanny story about Annie, mother of four, unhappily married and drowning in domestic servitude, who wonders what her life could have been had she not had children. When Annie’s two youngest daughters, her favourites, her Crow Face and her Doll Face, perform a seemingly impossible act of levitation at a family picnic Annie realises that they truly are special. Magical. And it’s her role to protect them.

With growing paranoia and a bitter fatalism, Annie spirits her daughters away from their home and the wreck of her marriage. But she commits a terrible unthinkable, unmotherly act on the way.

Crow Face, Doll Face is about being forced to live with the consequences of the decisions we make and about the fantasies we construct to soothe ourselves when the life we live falls far short of the life we planned.

This is a story about dysfunctional families, flawed mothers and unfulfilled dreams. A tale of domestic disturbances and terrible consequences. A must-read for fans of Daisy Johnson, Sarah Moss and Sarah Hall.

"A story full of strangeness and extraordinary twists, games and trickery. Holmes's ability to pick away and reveal what's underneath those masks we put up to the world, with characters so vivid and so flawed, made this a book I could not refuse.” Rebecca Parfitt - Commissioning Editor, Honno

Carly Holmes lives and writes on the banks of the river Teifi in west Wales. Her debut novel The Scrapbook was shortlisted for the International Rubery Book Award, and her Literary Strange short story collection Figurehead was published in limited edition hardback by Tartarus Press, then reprinted in paperback by Parthian Books.

Her prize-winning short prose has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Ambit, The Ghastling, The Lonely Crowd, Uncertainties and Black Static, and has twice been selected for The Best Horror of the Year.

"I'm really thrilled to be joining the Honno family with the publication of my second novel. Honno are a publishing house I've long admired, and I know that Crow Face, Doll Face has found the perfect home with Rebecca and the team there." - Carly Holmes

Crow Face, Doll Face will land on shelves in October 2023.