Our Monstrous Bodies ⭕️

By Emma Cleary.

Our Monstrous Bodies by Emma Cleary is a dark, unsettling, and deeply atmospheric literary horror book that uses genre conventions to explore profoundly human themes.

Strange, eerie, and emotionally charged, it is a debut that feels both intimate and disquieting.

Brooke arrives in Vancouver to care for her sister Izzy following reproductive surgery, seeking to provide support during a vulnerable period. Instead of comfort, the sisters find themselves in a decaying apartment building that feels steeped in unease.

The setting itself becomes a character, its bleak corridors and crumbling interiors amplifying the novel’s sense of dread. Lurking within this already unsettling environment is the mysterious and ominous figure known only as Medusa, whose presence casts a constant shadow over Brooke’s experience.

As Brooke attempts to adjust, reality begins to feel increasingly unstable. Drawn back to the horror films once loved by her former partner, she starts to notice disturbing overlaps between fiction and her own life.

Cleary blurs the boundary between psychological and supernatural horror with great precision, creating a creeping sense that something is fundamentally wrong. When Brooke begins to experience strange physical symptoms, the tension deepens, and Izzy’s concern gradually shifts into something far more obsessive and unsettling.

What makes this book particularly striking is its focus on female experience. Loneliness, bodily autonomy, and the cultural anxieties surrounding motherhood and reproduction sit at the heart of the story.

Cleary’s horror does not rely on spectacle but on discomfort, ambiguity, and emotional truth. The novel interrogates the ways ordinary aspects of womanhood are often framed as grotesque, frightening, or unnatural, exposing the quiet violence embedded within those perceptions.

The atmosphere is thick with unease, yet the writing remains controlled and deliberate. The horror feels unhinged in the most effective sense, not chaotic but deeply disorienting.

There is a constant sense of tension between self and other, body and identity, care and control. The result is a story that feels haunting and thought provoking rather than simply frightening.

Our Monstrous Bodies is a bold and unnerving debut that uses horror to examine vulnerability, perception, and the fragile boundaries of the self. Dark, strange, and unsettling, it leaves behind far more questions than answers in the most satisfying way.

Thank you to Angelica at The Borough Press for sending me a copy in time for publication day! The book is out now and available to purchase.

Buy the book here.

Buy the E-Book here.