The Furies

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Pub Date 2 May 2019 | Archive Date 1 Apr 2022

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Description

You’d kill to be one of them.

1998. A sixteen-year-old girl is found dead on school property, dressed in white and posed on a swing. No known cause of death.

Four girls know what happened.

And until now they’ve kept their silence.

Violet is returning home, back to the sleepy coastal town which holds so many memories.

In 1998, after a tragic accident claimed the lives of her father and sister, she joins Elm Hollow Academy, a private girls’ school with an unpleasant history of 17th century witch trials.

There she is drawn to Robin, Grace, Alex and their charismatic teacher, Annabel; she is invited to join them in their advanced study group.

There they learn about art, literature and the grisly history of the school. Though Annabel claims her classes aren’t related to ancient rites and rituals, she warns them off the topic, describing it as little more than mythology. However, the more the girls learn, the more they start to believe that magic is real, and that together they can harness it.

But when the body of a former member of the society is found on campus nine months after the she disappeared, fingers are pointed at those closest to her. Leading Violet to wonder whether she can trust her friends, teachers, or even herself.

You’d kill to be one of them.

1998. A sixteen-year-old girl is found dead on school property, dressed in white and posed on a swing. No known cause of death....


Advance Praise

‘A spell-binding debut that examines the dark heart of friendship, obsession, and revenge. I was bewitched by Katie Lowe's deliciously chilling storytelling. THE FURIES is a compulsive and unsettling read, dripping in atmosphere and suspense’ Lucy Clarke, bestselling author of YOU LET ME IN

‘THE FURIES can be described as PREP meets THE CRAFT, while managing to be a dark, weird creature all of its own. Witches, murder, and teenage girls – this is the book of my dreams. I am obsessed’ Louise O’Neill, bestselling author of ONLY EVER YOURS


‘THE FURIES is mesmerising, disturbing and completely addictive – it's a brilliant book about the power, vulnerability and rage of teenage girls, and it couldn't feel more timely. Lowe's beautiful prose is thrillingly, chillingly dark, and Violet is the sort of heroine that you want to throw yourself down the rabbit hole with – you know that she's going somewhere terrifying but you have to follow her journey’ Daisy Buchanan, author of THE SISTERHOOD


‘Witchcraft, teenage angst, friendship, murder. A beautifully-paced debut with hints of THE SECRET HISTORY. Intense, stylish, and deliciously dark’ Will Dean, author of DARK PINES


‘THE FURIES is a haunting tale of angry, young women, the fates they hold and furies they possess. Katie Lowe steers her juggernaut through twists of madness, revenge and murder to a finish that resonates deeply. It still hasn’t left me’ Peter Filardi, screenwriter of THE CRAFT

‘A spell-binding debut that examines the dark heart of friendship, obsession, and revenge. I was bewitched by Katie Lowe's deliciously chilling storytelling. THE FURIES is a compulsive and unsettling...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9780008288990
PRICE £4.49 (GBP)
PAGES 384

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (EPUB)
Send to Kindle (EPUB)

Average rating from 204 members


Featured Reviews

I LOVED this. Without doubt the best book I’ve read featuring toxic female friendship since “Girls on Fire” – The Furies is haunting, evocative and sits in your head, that underlying sense of menace and anticipation resonates throughout.

Violet desperately wants friendship, even as she tells herself she doesn’t need it, so when she is befriended by the enigmatic and edgy Robin and drawn into a circle of secrets and lies, she will do anything to protect it. Darkness and obsession, fatal ties and dangerous magic make for an utter page turner of a literary novel, with some beautiful writing and intelligent layered nuance.

The Furies is both observational and insightful, as Violet tells the tale of this fascinating group, of both love and hate, random happiness and sudden horror. Katie Lowe uses cutting edge prose to draw the reader into Violet’s world then doesn’t allow you to look away, it is utterly gripping from the vivid opening to the melancholy finish.

Absolutely excellent.

Highly Recommended.

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Gorgeous gothic twisty book that delivered on all its promises for me. Cannot WAIT to see more from this author, love the writing and the atmosphere.

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The Secret History meets Girls on Fire meets The Graces.

"It seems that women are doomed to two fates. It is our lot to either be seen as unpredictable and irrational mortals, maligned and repressed by the actions of men; or sacred beings, goddesses of higher realm, among the Fates and Furies."

The Furies is yet another YA novel that focuses on the potential toxicity of female friendships. Quite honestly, those are all my buzzwords and I will devour anything on the topic, no matter how many seemingly similar novels appear on the shelves. This book, however, also had something far more sinister to offer the reader, that appeared in the prologue and framed the narrative with its horrifying imagery. And right from this initial scene of terror I was hooked!

Asides from the interplay involved in teen girl friendships, academic settings are another of my bookish buzzwords. An elite school is erected for these fictional creations that could draw its source from many real-world alternatives. The abundance and the pretension lured me into this world and when this veneer became scratched Lowe exposed the sinister history it tremulously resided upon. The historic abuse of women and the rumoured witchcraft of those females deemed unsavoury is not a new discovery, and yet what Lowe does with this most certainly is. She brings home the image of the witch and lets it rest and grow, unknown and yet right in the heart of the patriarchal regime that once condemned it to the outskirts.

This is a novel ripe with sensual and sexual undertones that tainted every scene with an atmospheric foreboding that disallowed any facet to be taken at face value. The suspense mounts incrementally and ensures the reader is hooked to every word, as myth and history begin to collide with reality. Nothing can be trusted. All will be revealed. And in the wake of this discovery the reader will be left reeling.

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Wow! Wow! Wow! It’s only January but I think this is a contender for book of the year, another magical read as the year of the witch being popular in fiction starts to- this is an amazing story of murder and suspicion, of angry women making their voices heard. This was one book I couldn’t put down.

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Captivating from the first page, Lowe creates a vivid world peopled with relatable characters, chilling in their plausibility. Superbly written and relentlessly paced, we are left breathless, shocked anew by each turn of the page yet unable to turn away.

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In a world where Sabrina and Riverdale reign Netflix-supreme - The Furies hits every note pitch perfect for a wonderfully macabre YA tale. It's completely entrancing and gloriously bewitching. I was gripped from the first page. Katie Lowe laces her story with the heady intensity of teenage friendships and the intoxicating pressure of infatuation. With a gory series of crimes at the centre of this Gothic tale, The Furies will be the book of 2019 that gets all the tongues wagging.

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What a fabulously entertaining and addictive novel! I simply couldn't tear myself away from this, and read the whole thing in 2 days. Katie Lowe's writing creates a fantastic atmosphere no matter what she is describing: the setting of a neglected seaside town is inspired, the relationships between the girls are horribly believable. While I did feel things went a bit "over the top" after a certain point and I couldn't *quite* keep suspending my disbelief, I couldn't help loving the book anyway. A great debut, a combination of literary thriller and horror that may also have crossover appeal for older teenage readers.

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Thank you for the advanced copy of this. I really enjoyed this, took me back a bit and reminded me a little of the Secret Circle series. Really well written and if you like the film The Craft then you’ll love this book!

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A fantastic debut. A gripping story, told with skill.. A work to immerse yourself in, with enough 90s nostalgia and wicked humour peeking through the darkness.

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