Intense, creeping, and brimming with horrific suspense, The Lamb balances carefully between the spheres of literary fiction and horror.

Hikers are vanishing. People who stray from the path are never seen again, swallowed by the wild things which live in the solitary woods. Margot is one of the wild things, a self-proclaimed changeling child, she lives with her Mama in a house that is not quite a home. They are different than the rest of the world, isolated not just by their rural home, but by their very existence. When things begin to change, Mama as much as Margot, the tenuous peace of their reality is challenged; the sticky, painful sinew that ties them together may be as easily torn as any other meat, and both of them are hungry.

Rich in imagery, The Lamb is as readable as it is experimental, neither fully embracing, nor rejecting, its literary potential. Reminiscent of Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss, and as casual with its gore as The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks, this is a novel focused on the violence of womanhood, and the softer otherness of girlhood. Rose's strength is in her characterisation, and her willingness to go as far as she needs to to realise her themes, but I do worry that this book was plot weak in places, the story meandering. I enjoyed the overlapping readings this book inspired, like many novels on the precipice of literary fiction The Lamb is open to a few interpretations, but I didn't feel that one rose to the surface above the others, sometimes leaving me confused as to which metaphors, which ideas, were those intended by the author. This, for me, is what holds this back from its full literary potential - although authorial intent should not restrict one's reading, the confusion of the ideas, the way one reading upset another, made interpreting this story difficult.

This also struggled with motif vs repetitiveness. Rose clearly has an excellent understanding of literary form, and I felt in places employed motifs well, the rabbit for example, which appears throughout the book in different places, was a fantastic motif which tied things in together, drawing connections between events and individuals. Other things came off as repetitive, for example the description of near identical dresses, and the repeated references to ash / the fire / the hearth. This, in my opinion, made the novel feel less polished, although no less successful in its themes overall.

I think The Lamb has a lot to say, and I can imagine it will inspire a devoted and enthused readership. Rose is an undeniable talent. That being said, I worry the ambition of this book outweighed the story delivered. I wanted a bit more, a slightly fuller narrative which could support the exceptional character building, and rich language, of this work. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

‘I wondered why we couldn’t fit together like other mamas and their kits. I wondered if we were born with something broken inside us. Maybe it was in the deepest marrow of our bones, some place we couldn’t see or touch. Maybe that’s why we couldn’t love each other the way we were supposed to.’

In The Lamb, we follow Margot as she navigates her increasingly fraught and grievous relationship with her Mama. Mother and daughter live together in a cottage in the woods, luring in ‘Strays’ to feed Mama’s insatiable hunger. When things begin spiralling beyond their already unconventional life, 11-year-old Margot has no choice but to take matters into her own hands, whenever and however she can.

Part coming-of-age narrative, part unsettling folktale, The Lamb does not shy away from its commentary on complex mother-daughter relationships, particularly within an individualistic, family-unit-oriented society.

Please note that this is a strong “mummy issues” narrative told from the perspective of a child, with frequent on-page verbal and physical abuse. There are a whole host of other trigger warnings worth checking before diving in.

I am astounded by Lucy Rose’s ability to craft a narrative that is simultaneously heartfelt and skin-crawling, with twists I truly did not see coming. From the very first sentence to the final reflection, this book is one that can easily be devoured in a single sitting. I personally went into this story knowing very little and enjoyed the experience all the more for it.

I had an incredibly memorable time reading The Lamb and cannot wait to read more from Lucy Rose.
I’ll end by saying this: we must protect Steve. At. All. Costs.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

TWs/CWs:
Graphic: Child abuse (The child abuse is physical and emotional in nature, not CSA), Child death, Gore, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia

Hauntingly beautiful….

Thankyou NetGalley & publisher for this arc copy this book was hauntingly beautiful the darkness of the story got me hooked however the descriptions and characteristics the main character explained things throughout the book felt beautiful and poetic this book was absolutely beautifully written for a horror book. I absolutely enjoyed

A beautifully written gothic debut, The Lamb had me hooked from the very start. Despite the subject matter which can be at times a little gruesome, this is a lyrically beautiful tale of love, desire and despair.

WE ARE SOOOOOOO BACK!

This is absolutely banging, I sped through it! The writing is immersive and stomach churning and the characters are complex and fleshed out (har har). It's hard to write a review because it's been such a long time since a book has left me this raw (har har) and gobsmacked. I was rooting for Margot so hard. The portrayal of love in all its most horrid forms, girlhood, hunger... ahhhhhhh. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while.

Mama and Margot live in rural Cumbria, waiting for strays to happen by their cottage so Mama can seduce and devour them. But when a woman called Eden turns up, Margot starts to question the foundations of her upbringing. I was attracted by the idea of a dark folktale that centred on a mother-daughter relationship plus that gorgeous cover, but The Lamb was definitely not for me. I have to admit that I just don't do this kind of cannibalistic gore and didn't realise how explicit the book would become. But even putting that aside, nothing about this spoke to me. From its opening sentence ('On my fourth birthday, I plucked six severed fingers from the shower drain') I felt like it was using shock to give the impression of literary daring without actually doing anything new. Once you accept the nasty premise, The Lamb just... is. Rose's writing doesn't do anything different, either ('Snow turned into mud rivers as cars and tractors and vans trudged through the newly fallen, pristine snow. Nature was beautiful. But we did such a good job of making it ugly.') It is, at least, very quick to get through. 2.5 stars.

The Lamb is a dark folk-horror following a young girl, Margot, and her mama as they anxiously wait for strangers to come to their door in order to satisfy their ever-growing hunger. This book is both twisted and beautiful, and the cannibal elements were definitely gruesome. Margot as a narrator was heart-breaking and enjoyable at the same time, and by the end I felt deeply attached to her. I do wish the author went into more depth on certain themes such as female hunger and troubled mother-daughter relationships, as I felt like these were only lightly touched upon. I would recommend The Lamb for those interested in female-led gothic stories.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2025 and it did not disappoint!

Captivating and horrifying all at once - definitely not one to read while eating.

Lucy Rose somehow manages to write beautifully about cannibalism, visceral gore and the ties of family.

A remarkable debut and I look forward to reading future works.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher
5 ⭐️

I cannot tell you how much this isn’t for you if you have a weak stomach.

I love horror but I’m not a fan of gore. I struggle with gory films and hide behind my coat in the cinema. With books I usually try to skip on a bit if I know a section is gory.

I like to read while I eat my lunch. I realised on page 3 of The Lamb that that wasn’t going to be possible.

By 3% in I was sure if I had the stomach for this at all.

I’m glad I preserved as this book is fantastic and went in ways I didn’t expect.

Though I will be honest, I’m still feeling a bit sick.

A visceral exploration of hunger, obsession, and depravity, this is both a horrific and beautiful story.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. This is a violently graphic novel that I struggled through peppered with some really beautiful prose about the natural surroundings. I think it had so much potential but felt, in my opinion, flat. I found it frustrating that the same scene played out multiple times and yet shocking moments were passed over and not returned to. Aspects I found the most intriguing weren’t given any space for exploration. I wanted to know more about Eden’s back story and the bus driver, though I appreciate that a mark of good writing is to make the reader want more.
This was a very atmospheric read but one that would have benefitted from being a hundred pages shorter. I am grateful to the publishers for the proof copy of a much anticipated read.

🥩 The Lamb • Lucy Rose 🥩
★★★★

Read if you enjoy:
🥩 Horror with gore
🥩 Cannibalism
🥩 Coming-of-age novels
🥩 Themes of hunger and love
🥩 Complex family dynamics

Margot and Mama live by the forest and are ever so helpful to poor travelers who find themselves needing help with flat tires due to nails on the floor, or to hikers who lose the trail in bad weather. Mama invites them in from the warm and Margot makes them a drink that sends them to sleep. And then they eat them. Until Eden, who shows up in a snowstorm and has an appetite to rival Mama’s.

A DEBUT? No way. I didn’t expect to enjoy this so much but I LOVED it. Told from Margot’s perspective throughout, there is a certain innocence and naivety despite Margot and her Mama participating in eating people. There was such sorrow infused with folk horror with disturbing yet beautiful writing.

A truly remarkable debut!! I loved it and couldn’t put it down — rooting for the main character the whole way through, this is a story about isolation, hunger, female desire and the tenuous relationship between mother and daughter.

There is gore, yes, but there is also a tenderness that I wasn’t expecting from a book with this…ahem…subject matter? Five stars all day long.

Oh my good gracious - what a book! This release was so anticipated and my goodness did it live up to the hype. Such an emotional, gory, and psychologically screwing book. It all just played out before my eyes and made me feel all the feels…including scowling at the pages and gasping! Lucy, well done 👏🏻

TW/CW: Cannibalism, Child Neglect, Child Abuse, Murder, Body Horror

“It is impossible to truly know someone who hides so much of themselves and consumes so much of others.”

Oh. My. God… Lucy Rose, you ok, Hon?

Let me tell you, the hype that surrounds this book is wholly justified. Lucy Rose will be the one to watch when it comes to the best new names in horror. I’d read Rose’s short story ‘Carcinisation’ in a collection of modern horror stories (‘Of the Flesh’) earlier this year and it was by far one of the stand-outs for me, so when I got the ARC for ‘The Lamb’, I was so excited to get stuck in.

The book begins with, potentially, one of the best opening lines I have ever read, and from there I was hooked. When I tell you I devoured this book, I mean it in an (almost) literal sense. I found that I was making any and all excuses to cancel festive plans to stay home and read this book. I wanted to talk to everyone about it and once it was finished, I wanted to go back and start over. I was just hungry for more. All puns absolutely intended.

A seamless blend of modern horror and classic folklore, Rose has woven the perfect story for fans of ‘Room’, ‘My Absolute Darling’ and ‘Tender is the Flesh’. The characters are all well-rounded and fleshed-out, while remaining mostly unlikeable (by design). You know what they are doing is wrong, but you see the classic battle of ‘Nature VS Nurture’ from the perspective of Margot, who doesn’t know any different, but may know better...

I will be recommending this to any and all horror fans for years to come and because I enjoyed it so much, I have also pre-ordered a signed edition of the hardback, as I know I will re-read this one again.

As always, an enormous ‘thank you’ goes out to the author, Lucy Rose, NetGalley and the team at Orion publishing for an advanced reading copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

An excellent read, quick to finish but packs such a punch. Heartbreakingly told but so atmospheric and beautifully descriptive, I’ll be telling everyone about this one!

A very harrowing read that will definitely find its perfect audience; for fans of Eliza Clarke and Mona Awad.

This was such a horrifyingly unique story, I don't even know where to start.

It's a story about Margot and her growth to understand that what seems like love might just be hiding something much more awful underneath. And just because we are connected to someone doesn't mean we owe them our love.

Reading this story very much felt like reading a fable. There was something magical and untethered about it in a way that just drew you in. The descriptions of the food were both beautiful and incredibly off putting. And you want so badly for Margot to get away and build a better life and at the same time you have to wonder whether it's even possible.

This is probably not the most fitting holiday read but if you have a complicated relationship with your mum it can feel like a weirdly cathartic read.

*I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

As soon as I read that incredible first sentence, I knew this would be amazing and I wasn’t wrong. It’s a beautifully written, heartbreaking and disturbing story, set it a close-knit small village teeming with atmosphere.

The Lamb follows Margot, a young girl who lives with her mum at the edge of the forest, taking in lost strangers, before killing and eating them. It’s a brutal premise, told from the perspective of Margot, setting childhood innocence against a horrific normality, with Margot’s involvement making this such a haunting narrative. We watch her as she goes to school and makes friends despite her mother’s wishes, with her mother wanting her to remain unnoticed and distanced from those around her.

Without spoiling too much, Margot’s mum gets into a relationship which is all-consuming and obsessive, tense in its somewhat dangerous intimacy. Having another adult to conspire with leads to some critical situations, and more danger for Margot. Juxtaposed against Margot’s innocence and kindness, the horror feels elevated, showing a child’s involvement in something they should be protected from. It’s horrific to read, with visceral descriptions of their sickening actions throughout, and a sweet girl you worry for at every twist and turn.

If you like reading about horrific mother-daughter relationships against a backdrop of murder and cannibalism, with small town vibes and heartbreaking horror, this needs to be on your shelves. I’ve never read anything quite like it and I’m sure it’ll be living rent-free in my brain for years to come!

3.5 rounded up to 4 for netgalley

I liked this book in theory much more than I liked it in practice, actually.

The first 20% and the last 20% were exceptional but I really struggled with that middle 60% because of how slow and repetitive it got. Partly a 'me' problem as I perhaps wasn't in the mood for how slow-paced this book turned out to be, and I don't have that sense of 'disgust' towards cannibalism to keep me engaged.

The writing itself was gorgeously lyrical, and the depiction of a difficult mother-daughter relationship really spoke to me at times.

But I'm really struggling with having anything to say about it other than that, either good or bad. I've been left feeling surprisingly mid about this book (and I went into it actually half expecting a 5 star read!) and I don't think much of it will stick in my mind for long. Sorry :(