The Love Witch meets Monstrilio in Bruja's Nest, where a young woman's abuse history and ambition erupt into body horror, class war, and monstrous motherhood.
Raised amidst poverty, alcoholism, and sexual abuse, Yolanda is determined to seize control of her future. When she starts work as an indentured servant on the Fernández De la Rosa estate, she realizes she can secure a place as the lady of the house: with a spell from the local bruja, she can trick their naive son into getting her pregnant.
But the fertility ritual―piercing her flesh, tucking a rooster's heart inside herself―begets more than she expected. Yolanda's body swells and seethes with infection, her few allies dwindle, and she delivers a massive egg under the watchful eye of Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk saint of death. The hacienda where she's been promised a permanent home is full of blasphemies, secrets, and bodies, and the family she's tied herself to is loyal only to wealth and power.
But Yolanda will do anything to protect her child, who deserves the love and safety she never had. Even if everyone insists he's a monster.
Genre: Horror
Raised amidst poverty, alcoholism, and sexual abuse, Yolanda is determined to seize control of her future. When she starts work as an indentured servant on the Fernández De la Rosa estate, she realizes she can secure a place as the lady of the house: with a spell from the local bruja, she can trick their naive son into getting her pregnant.
But the fertility ritual―piercing her flesh, tucking a rooster's heart inside herself―begets more than she expected. Yolanda's body swells and seethes with infection, her few allies dwindle, and she delivers a massive egg under the watchful eye of Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk saint of death. The hacienda where she's been promised a permanent home is full of blasphemies, secrets, and bodies, and the family she's tied herself to is loyal only to wealth and power.
But Yolanda will do anything to protect her child, who deserves the love and safety she never had. Even if everyone insists he's a monster.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"Bruja's Nest hooks you like a telenovela, but is relentless with the horror until the last page. This should be on everyone's Halloween TBR." - V Castro
"blood- and viscera-soaked fever dream of a novel, full of fantasmagoric violence. An ambitious anti-heroine takes her fate into her own hands through a bruja's ritual, with results that will shock even diehard horror fans. Don't miss out on Brenda LaTorre's debut - and maybe don't turn your back on it either." - Nino Cipri
"Bruja's Nest is more than a horror tale. It's a chilling statement about the human condition. Here, we have a woman who trades her soul for the life she craves. And Santa Muerte responds as only she can - with gifts soaked in blood and consequence. Bruja's Nest is an intoxicating tale that feeds off the darkest human emotions: lust, envy, and greed. Proceed at your own risk!" - John Florio
"Bruja's Nest is 100% twisty fun! It's Succession with gristle, the [chicken] heart of darkness, and Shirley Jackson if only she could have watched telenovelas. There's bizarro bravado on every page. ?Felicidades, Brenda LaTorre! Sequel!" - Nancy Holder
"Bruja's Nest is a potent and startling literary incantation that invokes the most powerfully complex elements of magic, motherhood, and unflinchingly grotesque body horror. This is an uncompromising and deeply affecting work exquisitely scrawled in blood, fury, and pain." - Eric LaRocca
"Tense, boldly written, and fiercely addictive, Brenda LaTorre's debut novel Bruja's Nest is part class war telenovela, part shocking body horror, and every bit as wicked and biting as its conniving and irrepressible heroine. I am a major fan." - Robert Levy
"Brenda LaTorre brings Mexico to the page with visceral precision, from the jacaranda petals on cracked sidewalks to Santa Muerte draped in red and gold, and more. Bruja's Nest is a dark, propulsive debut about what it costs a woman to claim a life of her own." - Cynthia Pelayo
"Gripping from the very start, Bruja's Nest is an unflinching tale of desperation and womanhood. The body horror is seared into my brain. I loved it." - Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
"Bruja's Nest spins the gripping twisted tale of Yolanda, who is banished to servitude in a remote Mexican town, but forges her own rogue route to independence. At first hoping to marry money like her telenovela heroine, the fiercely determined Yolanda navigates a wealthy family of backbiting vipers, then stumbles into the notorious 'nest' of the local bruja. 'Life won't hand you power just like that,' Yolanda comes to realize, 'you have to snatch it from destiny's hands. Especially if you're a woman.' Entertaining and enlightening, this novel re-imagines mythic ideals of motherhood, marriage, money and magic. Brenda LaTorre is a bold new voice in horror fiction and Bruja's Nest marks her mesmerizing debut." - Elizabeth Searle
"blood- and viscera-soaked fever dream of a novel, full of fantasmagoric violence. An ambitious anti-heroine takes her fate into her own hands through a bruja's ritual, with results that will shock even diehard horror fans. Don't miss out on Brenda LaTorre's debut - and maybe don't turn your back on it either." - Nino Cipri
"Bruja's Nest is more than a horror tale. It's a chilling statement about the human condition. Here, we have a woman who trades her soul for the life she craves. And Santa Muerte responds as only she can - with gifts soaked in blood and consequence. Bruja's Nest is an intoxicating tale that feeds off the darkest human emotions: lust, envy, and greed. Proceed at your own risk!" - John Florio
"Bruja's Nest is 100% twisty fun! It's Succession with gristle, the [chicken] heart of darkness, and Shirley Jackson if only she could have watched telenovelas. There's bizarro bravado on every page. ?Felicidades, Brenda LaTorre! Sequel!" - Nancy Holder
"Bruja's Nest is a potent and startling literary incantation that invokes the most powerfully complex elements of magic, motherhood, and unflinchingly grotesque body horror. This is an uncompromising and deeply affecting work exquisitely scrawled in blood, fury, and pain." - Eric LaRocca
"Tense, boldly written, and fiercely addictive, Brenda LaTorre's debut novel Bruja's Nest is part class war telenovela, part shocking body horror, and every bit as wicked and biting as its conniving and irrepressible heroine. I am a major fan." - Robert Levy
"Brenda LaTorre brings Mexico to the page with visceral precision, from the jacaranda petals on cracked sidewalks to Santa Muerte draped in red and gold, and more. Bruja's Nest is a dark, propulsive debut about what it costs a woman to claim a life of her own." - Cynthia Pelayo
"Gripping from the very start, Bruja's Nest is an unflinching tale of desperation and womanhood. The body horror is seared into my brain. I loved it." - Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
"Bruja's Nest spins the gripping twisted tale of Yolanda, who is banished to servitude in a remote Mexican town, but forges her own rogue route to independence. At first hoping to marry money like her telenovela heroine, the fiercely determined Yolanda navigates a wealthy family of backbiting vipers, then stumbles into the notorious 'nest' of the local bruja. 'Life won't hand you power just like that,' Yolanda comes to realize, 'you have to snatch it from destiny's hands. Especially if you're a woman.' Entertaining and enlightening, this novel re-imagines mythic ideals of motherhood, marriage, money and magic. Brenda LaTorre is a bold new voice in horror fiction and Bruja's Nest marks her mesmerizing debut." - Elizabeth Searle
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Brenda Latorre's Bruja's Nest