Fruit of the Dead

An electric, contemporary reimagining of the Persephone and Demeter myth unfolds over one summer on a lush private island, exploring addiction, sex, family, independence and who holds the power in a modern underworld. The narrative follows Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, who leaves New York after her father’s offer of an alternative, entering a world of luxury and opiates aboard a private sea of temptation. Across from her, Rolo Picazo, CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, is a middle-aged, divorced man whose magnetic pull tests Cory’s sense of control. When Cory accepts a childcare job (and an NDA), she is ferried to the island off the coast of Maine, where the line between power and vulnerability blurs. Her mother, Emer, head of a teetering agricultural NGO, senses something is wrong when Cory seemingly vanishes and travels across land and sea to find her. The story alternates between the two women’s perspectives, weaving mythic resonance with sharp, contemporary insight to probe love, attraction, coercion and the sprawling myth of American late capitalism.

The prose creates a lush, haunting atmosphere that deepens the mother‑daughter bond while examining agency and obliteration in a world of luxury and risk. The novel blends mythic echoes with a modern thriller sensibility, presenting a vivid portrait of dependency, control and the search for home.

Kenmerken

• Modern retelling van Persephone en Demeter
• Speelt zich af op een privé-eiland voor de kust van Maine
• Verhalen vanuit Cory en Emer beiden perspectief
• Thema’s: macht, autonomie, verslaving, familieband
• Lyrische, beklemmende toon die thriller-energie combineert
• 320 pagina’s, paperback, eerste editie