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* “Mesmerizing.” —Town & Country * “Twisty and unsettling.” —People * “Ancient Greece meets Succession by way of Emma Cline…deliciously dark.” —Ruth Gilligan *
A “superb…refreshing” (The New York Times Book Review) reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set on a lush private island, exploring themes of addiction and sex, family, independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld.
Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, afraid to face her high-strung single mother’s disappointment, is no longer sure where home is when the father of one of her campers offers an alternative. The CEO of a pharmaceutical company, Rolo Picazo is wealthy, divorced, and magnetic. He is also intoxicated by Cory. When Rolo offers her a job, Cory quiets an internal warning and allows herself to be ferried to his private island. Plied with luxury and the opiates manufactured by his company, she tells herself she’s in charge. Her mother, Emer, head of a teetering agricultural NGO, senses otherwise. With her daughter seemingly vanished, Emer crosses land and sea to heed a cry for help that only she can hear.
Alternating between the two women’s perspectives, Fruit of the Dead incorporates its mythic inspiration with a light touch and devastating precision. The result is a tale that explores love, control, obliteration, and America’s late-capitalist mythos. Lyon’s reinvention of Persephone and Demeter’s story makes for a haunting, electric novel that readers will not soon forget.
A “superb…refreshing” (The New York Times Book Review) reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set on a lush private island, exploring themes of addiction and sex, family, independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld.
Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, afraid to face her high-strung single mother’s disappointment, is no longer sure where home is when the father of one of her campers offers an alternative. The CEO of a pharmaceutical company, Rolo Picazo is wealthy, divorced, and magnetic. He is also intoxicated by Cory. When Rolo offers her a job, Cory quiets an internal warning and allows herself to be ferried to his private island. Plied with luxury and the opiates manufactured by his company, she tells herself she’s in charge. Her mother, Emer, head of a teetering agricultural NGO, senses otherwise. With her daughter seemingly vanished, Emer crosses land and sea to heed a cry for help that only she can hear.
Alternating between the two women’s perspectives, Fruit of the Dead incorporates its mythic inspiration with a light touch and devastating precision. The result is a tale that explores love, control, obliteration, and America’s late-capitalist mythos. Lyon’s reinvention of Persephone and Demeter’s story makes for a haunting, electric novel that readers will not soon forget.
126 Reviews
3.0
kaely
Created 5 days agoShare
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Ling #
Created 12 days agoShare
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Dylan
Created 13 days agoShare
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“The novel serves as a contemporary reimagining of the Hades/Persephone/Demeter mythology, and in my view, Lyons effectively integrates these mythological elements into a modern setting. The symbolic use of pomegranate seeds as pain pills, the reflection of Demeter’s depression in Emer’s job struggles and societal blame, and Rolo’s role as a billionaire drug dealer echoing the underworld—all of these connections felt thoughtfully executed. However, I found the portrayal of Rolo to be somewhat problematic. Despite his significant faults and the severe consequences of his actions, he remains somewhat shielded from criticism, particularly in his depiction through the lens of his ex-wife. This aspect of the narrative left me with mixed feelings. I didn’t enjoy the absence of traditional quotation marks around dialogue. While this stylistic choice might be seen as an innovative departure, I personally found it somewhat challenging and somewhat detracting from the overall readability of the text.”Multi-layered charactersBeautifully writtenDescriptive writingUnpredictableDark settingDarkAbuseSelf-harmSexual assault
Sienna Despres
Created 18 days agoShare
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“The girls who like long chapters will love this (I’m girls). This was a bit of a fever dream and I really liked it!”Faye
Created 19 days agoShare
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About Rachel Lyon
Rachel Lyon is the author of Fruit of the Dead and Self-Portrait with Boy, a finalist for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Her short stories have appeared in One Story, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, and other publications. A teacher of creative writing at various institutions, most recently Bennington College, Rachel lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and two young children.
Other books by Rachel Lyon
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