| Author/Contributor(s): | Brown, Karma |
| Publisher: | Dutton |
| Date: | 3/17/2026 |
| Binding: | Hardcover |
| Condition: | NEW |
From the #1 international bestselling author of Recipe For A Perfect Wife comes a chilling horror debut: When a pregnant art conservator’s obsession with a mysterious painting spirals into a nightmarish descent, the line between reality and the supernatural shatters threatening both her sanity and her life.
In a world shaped by climate crisis and population decline, motherhood has become both prized and quietly monitored. For thirty-nine-year-old art conservator Mathilde "Tilly" Crewson that has meant years spent struggling to conceive, while navigating the growing social pressure surrounding women's bodies and reproduction.
When Tilly is tasked with restoring The Mother, a fire-damaged painting believed to be the final work of a grieving surgeon-turned artist, she becomes consumed by its disturbing history. Soon after, Tilly discovers she's unexpectedly pregnant and it isn't long before the horrors begin: swarms of insects, whispers in the dark, visits from her dead mother, and an increasingly terrifying bond with the painting itself.
As the malevolence intensifies, Tilly fears the forces surrounding The Mother are not only feeding on her, but on the life growing inside her. To save herself and her family, she may have to destroy the painting once and for all.
But The Mother has plans of its own.
Perfect for fans of Nightbitch and The School for Good Mothers, this unsettling novel explores the intersection between motherhood, art and ambition, and the terror of losing control over one's body and mind.