Book Review: Carrion Crow by Heather Parry

“There are some facts about the world that only your mother can teach you.”

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Marguerite Périgord has been confined to the cramped attic of her crumbling home for an unspecified period. Imprisoned by her mother, Cécile, for her wellbeing, she will remain there until she learns important lessons preparing her for matrimony and the real world. Overwhelmed by the stench of the nearby Thames, she has only a copy of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management and a rusty sewing machine to keep her company, along with a lone carrion crow, nested within the rafters.

Cécile visits irregularly, leaving trays of unappetizing food to congeal and rot, claiming concern over her daughter’s engagement to a poor, much-older solicitor and her propensity to damage the family’s good name. But why is Marguerite really pursuing her future husband, and why are her mother’s visits becoming more sporadic? How much time has passed since her confinement, and when, exactly, will she be released?

Carrion Crow is a deeply disturbing, supremely disgusting gothic tale. Festering with scandalous family secrets, the novel unfurls an entrancing nightmare that delves into the restrictions of “polite society” and the perils of conformity. Its pages teem with filth and decay so grotesque and repulsive, they take on a life of their own, producing visceral reactions, horrific mental images, and harrowing body horror so appalling, they actually sicken the reader.

The storyline moves between past and present, gradually exposing Cécile and Marguerite’s backstories, the vile truth of the Périgords, and the sobering realities of marriage, community, and motherhood. This is a monstrous and grisly chronicle, at once vicious and revolting, macabre and devastating, so loaded with darkness and suffering, it feels smothering, incomprehensible, and overwhelming — a bold and unflinching examination of bodily autonomy, sexual liberty, class, and gender where deviation from the norm is poisonous, children hold the same things as their mothers, and freedom is found in recognizing finality. A true masterpiece of gothic horror so ghastly and unforgettable, it’s difficult to do it justice.

🖤Amanda