Synopsis
'A hauntingly lyrical, fairytale-like horror'
– Kalynn Bayron, New York Times bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead
Once upon a time, on the edge of a forest, there was a lonely child with only his older sister for company. So his sister made him a playmate — Daye, a girl woven from carefully selected flowers and words.
Rory is gloriously happy, until he learns that Daye is a seasonal creature. At the end of each season, she must be woven back together or fall gruesomely apart. And when, one autumn, his sister fails to return home from university in time, Rory has no choice but to watch his best friend slowly crumble.
Realizing he can no longer rely on his sister to keep Daye alive, Rory determines he must leave home to learn how to do it himself. Rory sinks deeper into research and experiments to end the cycle of bloom and decay. But as Rory grows older, his thoughts turn darker . . .
An entrancing, inventive and unsettling reimagining of the story of Blodeuwedd from Welsh mythology, Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell is a feminist Frankenstein with flowers; a deliciously dark, twisted, horror-tinged fairytale with rot at its heart . . .
Details
24 March 2026
9781035067916Reviews
Bar Fridman-Tell is a master of the botanical grotesque. This lyrical and captivating debut unsettles and shocks by turns, as a lush and dreamy childhood world gives way to a dark reality.
A hauntingly lyrical, fairytale-like horror. I was absolutely enthralled with Fridman-Tell’s lush world building and devastatingly beautiful prose . . . A searing addition to the literary horror genre, Honeysuckle offers a tale in which beauty is inextricably intertwined with rot, and with the unrelenting passage of time love serves as both a shield and a dagger
Honeysuckle is equal parts fairytale and nightmare, beautiful and terrifying, innocent and disturbed. A novel for anyone who contemplates the rot beneath lovely things, and a deeply impressive debut
Honeysuckle begins with a playful bargain but quickly descends into something darker, something that blurs the lines between love and ownership, desire and power, bond and bondage. This is magical realism at its absolute best – the fantastical is woven seamlessly into the sumptuous fabric of the world, while what is real is too monstrous and twisted to be anything other than achingly human. Escalating in dread from its first page to its breathless conclusion, this is a novel destined to become a modern gothic classic. A glorious, decadent debut!
