ITCH!

A darkly feminist folk horror about the psychological turmoil of a woman who discovers a dead body in the woods infested by a horde of ants that then seem to crawl under her skin and infect her life.

A deeply felt, haunting folk horror that crawls with secrets and darkness. This disturbing and tender novel possessed me and made my skin crawl. It will keep you up long into the night!

So weird and juicy and gross and brilliant and made me want to slather myself in calamine lotion. I loved it!

As fun as it is earnest, ITCH! is an unflinching tale of the grotesque side of humanity and the people who unearth its rotting remains. From the first page, this story is already under your skin, building a nest in your heart

A chilling and tremendously disturbing examination of a wounded mind, of a fragile soul pushed to the limits of her very existence because of trauma, ritual, and obsession. Sinister and utterly fiendish, ITCH! is a shocking and truly surprising blend of mystery, folk horror, and body horror that will burrow deep in your softest places, into your tenderest, most unspoiled secret parts

This novel will genuinely make your skin crawl - you've been warned!

ITCH! places Gemma Amor firmly at the top of today's horror talent pool. It's as if a small village Tana French murder mystery turned into full on folk horror, with a constant buzz of body horror underneath. I couldn't have loved this more. It's under my skin now, and it itches! One of the year's absolute must-reads!

An exquisitely crafted, uniquely unnerving horror story told with stunning empathy. ITCH! is a visceral, astute, tense spiral into the lingering damage of abuse and violence. As unflinching and terrifying as it is gentle-hearted, it has all the makings of a horror classic

ITCH! is a marvel : a suppurating mash-up of body horror and folk horror, with real-world atrocities buried at its oozing core. Fans of Pine by Francine Toon, or the Merrily Watkins books by Phil Rickman, will go wild for this fast-paced, smart, intensely female-voiced work from the bowels of the English countryside

This wildly original tale will give you the heebie-jeebies

Gemma Amor masterfully weaves [...] a veritable tapestry of horror, building to an enormously gratifying climax that left my mouth agape . ITCH! is not for the squeamish, [but] is an immensely satisfying novel and another highlight in Gemma Amor's impressive body of literature

A wildly inventive and modern coming of age story about survival . . . and ants. This is the work of a genuine talent

Gut-churning yet inspired folk horror. Anyone who's grown up in the woods knows the endlessness Amor has painted here, vivid and tactile, and yet a place where dreams and nightmares come alive from every copse and hillock. A skin-crawling book of brutal secrets

A remarkable book - a fetid, crawling, infested feminist folk-horror that pulls zero punches on body horror or intellect. It's various orifices are full of things with too many legs, and you'll feel them scurry through your head. Class act!

Gemma Amor leads us on a disturbing hike through a shadowy forest of a story, where taboo, trauma and ancient presences grow wild, and where human malevolence seems to know no limit. A story that immediately strikes the reader as mattering deeply to the author. Without that quality, there is always something missing

The future of horror is in safe hands. A spectacular blend of psychological, body, and folk horror drenched in atmosphere and written with the kind of unwavering confidence that makes the author's contemporaries itch with envy, this is quite easily the best book I've read all year

A skin-crawling, spine-tingling venture , ITCH! is a compelling, astounding feat of folk horror that utilizes the ideas of tradition to examine our world's long-held and ill-tempered view of women

Not for the squeamish, ITCH! is a fast-paced, darkly feminist folk horror that will stay with you long after you turn the final page

A nerve-wracking tale of surreal suffering ... strong enough to support serious themes with a harsh, poignant payoff

Gemma Amor stacks folk horror, body horror, a '90s-style serial-killer thriller, and a heavy dose of female rage into something satisfying and self-supporting. Nature infects everything, from the woodland murk that surrounds the town to the insects infiltrating Josie's life, and Amor writes about it all with equal beauty and grotesquerie . Itch is a mad, transgressive triumph , rupturing the membrane between subgenres as effectively as it penetrates the skin of its protagonist

An eerie modern fairytale, rife with skin-crawling imagery and monsters both real and imagined. Well-versed in the language of both trauma and violence, ITCH! is perfect for lovers of femgore - it's a transportive read that ratchets up the tension as the tale takes shape, like slowly revealing what lives in the shadows of the woods

Well-executed surprises . . . This is sure to get under horror fans' skin

A new feminist folk horror that will literally make your skin crawl - it's replete with skittering insects and creeping forest figures

This is now my new, all-time favorite folk horror book. It has everything you could ask for: unusual, dark villlage festival and rituals, a murder mystery, a flawed, broken FMC to fall in love with and invest in, plus interesting side characters who come alongside Josie to help. Flawless execution

Mixing crime thriller with folk horror, ITCH! is visceral and brutal at times, [and] firmly crawls its way under your skin

Gemma Amor is a Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award-nominated horror author, editor, illustrator, and podcaster based in Bristol, UK. She was named one of Esquire 's Writers Shaping Horror's Next Golden Age, and recently featured in Ellen Datlow's prestigious Best Horror of the Year anthology, Vol. 15.

Gemma loves to write about misunderstood monsters, both human and supernatural, as well as feminist horror. Itch! is her first novel with Hodder & Stoughton.