Tangled Knot

Like the whisperings of a ghost, this is a hellish tale of grief, isolation, and revenge. See how this family tree has become tangled and haunted by trauma, and learn whether anything can grow from this beyond poisoned fruit.

Eris once believed that she could keep herself safe from the suburban beast that slithered around the swampland of a small town on the US East Coast. She hid herself away behind latches and bolts and locks, making a fortress of her family home. They called this recluse a witch, and if she had lived in another age, this suburban misfit would have been hanged or burned at the stake.

Despite her fortress, the dangers still found Eris. As if myths and legends were true all along, her family was torn apart one snowy night when her teenage daughter was found dead. Ever since, Eris and her husband, Paris, remain tangled in a marriage knot riddled with grief. Every move Paris makes to free himself of this grief only tightens the knot like a hangman’s noose around Eris’s neck. For either of them to cut themselves free means they will fall into the unknown, which could mean a landing on softened soil ripe for regrowth, or a plunge into an abyss of hopelessness and despair.

Two years on since her nightmares became a reality, Eris thinks she has discovered the truth about her daughter’s death. She stirs concoctions of poison and vengeance, but will this kill off all hope, proving herself to be a witch who should be condemned to isolation in a fortress that is haunted by grief? She fears that such a fate might leave her exposed to horrors that still haunt her: What good are locks on a fortress if the greatest danger threatens her from within? Anything is possible since the unnatural occurred and the bond was broken between parent and child. All manner of natural things has become unnatural as her life has become an underworld.

Compelling, poignant, and deeply real, Tangled Knot is an account of grief, isolation, and revenge that grabs you by the throat from the outset and will not let you go until you resolve for yourself whether the greatest threat is from the haunted world outside or the dangers that lurk within your own family—or even within the tangled knots of your own mind.

BB Clifford is the author of TANGLED KNOT, RAINBOW WARRIOR, and MALEVOLENT FAIRY. BB Clifford is greatly influenced by Shirley Jackson, Alison Rumfitt, Marcus Kliewer, Qntm, and Eliza Clark.