The Poison That Fascinates

Having been deserted by her mother as a baby, Emily now lives with her father in Mexico City, and works in the local orphanage. When a mysterious cousin, Santi, appears on their doorstep, he brings with him family secrets, and soon Emily finds desire and temptation have overturned her straightforward life forever. The Poison That Fascinates is an alluring fable forged in sensuous prose. Jennifer Clement conjures a world heavy with the weight of Mexican superstition, mythology and faith, where saintliness and mortal sin sit side by side. With this novel, Shearsman brings to its collection a unique work praised for Clement's prowess in creating a literary crime novel.

"An astonishing novel, every line alive, leading as if effortlessly to a shocking climax. A work of power and originality." -Alan Sillitoe

"Vivid with detail, each colour-soaked page leading us irresistibly to the next." -Kirsty Gunn

"Might have been produced by Angela Carter . . . Weird, unpredictable and magic realist." -The Independent

"What a marvelous writer Clement is. She contains all this power in a prose that is simple and simply beguiling. A cri de coeur." -The Scotsman

"Highly original. Her prose is poetic in the true sense: precise as a scalpel, lyrical and the story is unputdownable." -Ruth Padel, The Guardian