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Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

HYSTERIA

Elisabeth de Mariaffi

The closer she gets to the truth, the faster it slips away.
Heike Lerner's life looks perfect from the outside: she's settled into an easy routine of caring for her young son, Daniel, and spends her days wandering the woods near their summer house, while her nights are filled with clinking glasses and charming conversation. It all helps to keep her mind at ease—or at least that's what her husband Eric tells her. But lately, Heike's noticed there are some things out of place: a mysterious cabin set back in the trees, and a strange little girl who surfaces alone at the pond one day, then disappears—while at home Eric is becoming increasingly more controlling. Something sinister that Heike cannot quite put her finger on is lingering just beneath the surface of this idyllic life.

It's possible Heike's worries are all in her head, but when the unthinkable happens—Daniel vanishes while she and Eric are at a party one night—she can no longer deny that something is very wrong.

Desperate to find her son, Heike will try anything, but Eric insists on a calm that feels so cold, she wonders if she can trust him at all.

Could Eric be involved in Daniel's disappearance? Or has some darker thing taken him? The closer Heike gets to the truth, the faster it slips away. But she will not rest until she finds her son.

ELISABETH DE MARIAFFI is the critically acclaimed author of two previous books, the Giller-nominated short story collection How to Get Along with Women (Invisible Publishing, 2012) and a debut novel, the literary thriller The Devil You Know (Harper Collins Canada, Simon & Schuster US, Titan UK, 2015). Both a Globe and Mail Best Book and lucky number 13 on the NP100, the year-end list at the National Post, The Devil You Know was optioned within months of publication and is currently in development for television with New Metric Media. It is also currently shortlisted for the prestigious Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. De Mariaffi's poetry and short fiction have been widely published and praised, and have been shortlisted for the National Magazine Award. Born and raised in Toronto, she now makes her home in St. John's, Newfoundland
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Published by HarperCollins Canada

Comments

"...a fast-paced thrill ride with an intriguing premise and twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end."

"Hysteria not only provides the thrills of a suspenseful, disturbing read. On a deeper level, the novel highlights the manipulation, coercion, and abuse of women that, sadly, remains an urgent issue today."

"Hysteria, at heart, is a novel about the ordinary corruptibility of plot. De Mariaffi purges this corruption, turning one genre against another, fighting plot with plot. An act of magical safekeeping, Hysteria imagines a woman's world as a safer, more just, place. That world is a fairy tale, at least for now."

"Hysteria is a powerful piece of fictional misdirection, of establishing readerly expectations and upending them, repeatedly, to tremendous effect. It is at once thought-provoking, tautly suspenseful and genuinely surprising."

"De Mariaffi's writing is cinematic, calibrated, hallucinogenic. Her prose is thoughtful and precise."

Titan Books