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The title was acquired from Chris Scheina at St Martin’s Press, with Tor publishing in the US. Releasing in February 2027, Truelove’s piercing novella sees Patricia, a former zombie turned trad-wife influencer, try to readjust to domestic life. Her husband Ralph paid for her resurrection but questions about their past together mount up as a new zombie horde approaches their fenced community. Combining the ‘perfect partner’ themes of Annie Bot with the fungal spread of What Moves the Dead, readers are in for a real treat.
Lancett says, “This playful novella skewers the flesh of cynical trad-wife content, roasts it over the open flames of a zombie apocalypse, sprinkles it with a seasoning of fungal horror, and savours every bite. Truelove has created a story as heartwarming as it is terrifying, as eye-opening as it is funny, and invites you to dine alongside her.”
Truelove adds, “Sometimes ideas will grab me and refuse to let go. This idea? It didn't just grab me, it throttled me. In a world where we're expected to look good and need nothing, it feels so beautifully necessary to turn those tables, to find the gorgeous within the grotesque, and to eat."
Allegra Martschenko, Truelove’s agent, says, “When Barbara’s innocent ‘hey, is this weird little novella anything?’ email hit my inbox, I knew I was in for a treat. The Secret Lives of Zombie Wives is a testament to her playful, unique ability to grapple with thoughtful questions in bizarre and compelling formats that all sorts of readers, all over the world, will find meaning in.”