Genre Fiction
![Cassandra Khaw - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B01ITBI13E.jpg)
The Salt Grows Heavy
From Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth, comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairy tale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.
"This brilliant novella is not to be missed." ―Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"With this brilliantly constructed tale...Khaw cements their status as a must-read author." ―Library Journal, STARRED review
You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.
On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three "saints" who control them.
The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
Also by Cassandra Khaw:
Nothing But Blackened Teeth
A Song for Quiet
Hammers on Bone
"This brilliant novella is not to be missed." ―Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"With this brilliantly constructed tale...Khaw cements their status as a must-read author." ―Library Journal, STARRED review
You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.
On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three "saints" who control them.
The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
Also by Cassandra Khaw:
Nothing But Blackened Teeth
A Song for Quiet
Hammers on Bone
Editorial Reviews
"Devastatingly effective…a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed." ―Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"With this brilliantly constructed tale that consciously takes on a well-known story and violently breaks it open to reveal a heartfelt core, Khaw cements their status as a must-read author." ―Library Journal, STARRED review
"A feverishly gory, grotesquely beautiful and baroque fairy-tale-meets-love-sonnet. Cassandra Khaw's imagination is limitless." ―Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
"Cassandra Khaw's writing is never more lyrical than when they're describing the knife in your heart. The bones of a fairy tale sunk deep in a charnel house of descriptive prose, an elegant confection with a blood-soaked core. I devoured it in one sitting." ―T. Kingfisher, multi-award winning author of What Moves the Dead and Nettle & Bone
"Short but action-packed, unctuous, and deliciously creepy, a mash-up of Angela Carter's dark fairytale retellings and the poetic love story core of This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019)." ―Booklist
"Khaw uses poetically beautiful words to tear open your chest and gnaw on your ribs in this needle-sharp novella." ―Kaaron Warren, author of Slights and The Grief Hole
"Cassandra Khaw's writing is immaculate, with every word carefully chosen for maximum impact. The Salt Grows Heavy is a truly mesmerizing story and one of the finest works of horror and dark fantasy I have ever read, dripping with a gruesome and disquieting passion." ―Grimdark Magazine
"Cassandra Khaw's steely prose is matched only by the inventiveness of their imagination. The Salt Grows Heavy demonstrates their continuing mastery of the novella form with a story Angela Carter would be jealous to have written." ―John Langan, author of Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
"A brutal and deadl...
"With this brilliantly constructed tale that consciously takes on a well-known story and violently breaks it open to reveal a heartfelt core, Khaw cements their status as a must-read author." ―Library Journal, STARRED review
"A feverishly gory, grotesquely beautiful and baroque fairy-tale-meets-love-sonnet. Cassandra Khaw's imagination is limitless." ―Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
"Cassandra Khaw's writing is never more lyrical than when they're describing the knife in your heart. The bones of a fairy tale sunk deep in a charnel house of descriptive prose, an elegant confection with a blood-soaked core. I devoured it in one sitting." ―T. Kingfisher, multi-award winning author of What Moves the Dead and Nettle & Bone
"Short but action-packed, unctuous, and deliciously creepy, a mash-up of Angela Carter's dark fairytale retellings and the poetic love story core of This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019)." ―Booklist
"Khaw uses poetically beautiful words to tear open your chest and gnaw on your ribs in this needle-sharp novella." ―Kaaron Warren, author of Slights and The Grief Hole
"Cassandra Khaw's writing is immaculate, with every word carefully chosen for maximum impact. The Salt Grows Heavy is a truly mesmerizing story and one of the finest works of horror and dark fantasy I have ever read, dripping with a gruesome and disquieting passion." ―Grimdark Magazine
"Cassandra Khaw's steely prose is matched only by the inventiveness of their imagination. The Salt Grows Heavy demonstrates their continuing mastery of the novella form with a story Angela Carter would be jealous to have written." ―John Langan, author of Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
"A brutal and deadl...
