Tender
by Lauren Du Plessis
Nell has curated a perfect museum of the self: a successful career in archaeobotany, a pastel Instagram filled with flowers, and an uncompromising manicure routine. She’s convinced that her veneer of perfection will mask the parts of her she’d rather not think about. When two ‘bog bodies’ are discovered in elaborate floral graves in a Somerset fen, Nell seizes the opportunity to excavate their secrets.
But the deeper she digs into the fertile, waterlogged earth, the more she uncovers memories of her unsettled childhood and strained relationship with her sister… and the more her body manifests her own wildness in ways she can’t ignore. Under the pressure of a blazing summer, Nell whirlwinds into toxic romance, intense friendships, and the brutal process of reconciling her past and her future before the weight of it all buries her, too. Blending folkloric horror with explorations of womanhood against a backdrop of eco-anxiety, Tender burrows into the quiet violence of overcoming and accepting our darkest sides.
Influx Press
