Cursed Bread

<p><b>From the Booker-nominated author of <i>The Water Cure</i> and <i>Blue Ticket </i>comes a chilling new feminist fable - an eerie and erotic historical mystery about desire, memory and madness</b><br><br><b>'Definitely don't miss the return of Sophie Mackintosh</b><b>' <i>Stylist</i></b><br><br><b>'Be sure to read everything Sophie Mackintosh writes' Deborah Levy</b><br><br>In 1951, still reeling in the aftermath of the deadliest war the world had ever seen, the small French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit succumbed to a mass poisoning. Some historians believe the mysterious illness was caused by spoiled bread. Others claim it was the result of covert government testing on the local population.<br><br>In the years before the disaster, there lived in the doomed town a woman named Elodie. She was the baker's wife: a plain, unremarkable person who yearned to transcend her dull existence. So when a charismatic new couple arrived in town (the forceful Ambassador and his sharp-toothed wife, Violet), Elodie quickly fell under their spell. Thus began a dangerous and intoxicating game of cat and mouse - but who was the predator and on whom did they prey?<br><br>Audacious and mesmerising, <i>Cursed Bread</i> is a fevered confession, an entry into memory's hall of mirrors, a fable of obsession and transformation. Sophie Mackintosh spins a darkly gleaming tale of a town gripped by hysteria, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.<br><br><b>Praise for Sophie Mackintosh:<br></b><br><b>'An extraordinary debut - otherworldly, luminous, precise'</b> <b>Guardian on <i>The Water Cure</i><br><br>'Dreamlike, tense, compelling, with a pitch-perfect ending' <i>The New York Times </i>on <i>Blue Ticket</i><br><br>'An unsettling dark fantasy... It lingers long after the final page' <i>Daily Telegraph</i> on <i>The Water Cure</i><br></b><br><b>'<i>Blue Ticket</i> will worms its way under your skin and haunt your dreams' <i>Red</i></b></p> <p><b>From the Booker-nominated author of <i>The Water Cure</i> and <i>Blue Ticket </i>comes a chilling new feminist fable - an eerie and erotic historical mystery about desire, memory and madness</b><br><br><b>'Definitely don't miss the return of Sophie Mackintosh</b><b>' <i>Stylist</i></b><br><br><b>'Be sure to read everything Sophie Mackintosh writes' Deborah Levy</b><br><br>In 1951, still reeling in the aftermath of the deadliest war the world had ever seen, the small French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit succumbed to a mass poisoning. Some historians believe the mysterious illness was caused by spoiled bread. Others claim it was the result of covert government testing on the local population.<br><br>In the years before the disaster, there lived in the doomed town a woman named Elodie. She was the baker's wife: a plain, unremarkable person who yearned to transcend her dull existence. So when a charismatic new couple arrived in town (the forceful Ambassador and his sharp-toothed wife, Violet), Elodie quickly fell under their spell. Thus began a dangerous and intoxicating game of cat and mouse - but who was the predator and on whom did they prey?<br><br>Audacious and mesmerising, <i>Cursed Bread</i> is a fevered confession, an entry into memory's hall of mirrors, a fable of obsession and transformation. Sophie Mackintosh spins a darkly gleaming tale of a town gripped by hysteria, envy like poison in the blood, and desire that burns and consumes.<br><br><b>Praise for Sophie Mackintosh:<br></b><br><b>'An extraordinary debut - otherworldly, luminous, precise'</b> <b>Guardian on <i>The Water Cure</i><br><br>'Dreamlike, tense, compelling, with a pitch-perfect ending' <i>The New York Times </i>on <i>Blue Ticket</i><br><br>'An unsettling dark fantasy... It lingers long after the final page' <i>Daily Telegraph</i> on <i>The Water Cure</i><br></b><br><b>'<i>Blue Ticket</i> will worms its way under your skin and haunt your dreams' <i>Red</i></b></p>