{ "item_title" : "A Slow and Secret Poison", "item_author" : [" Carmella Lowkis "], "item_description" : "In the early 1900s, a young gardener at a lush English manor falls in love with her employer whose past is shrouded in deadly secrets--from the author of the twisty, Gothic thriller (Entertainment Weekly) Spitting Gold. In 1925, Vee Morgan arrives at Harfold Manor, a once-grand country estate in Wiltshire, to begin her new post as gardener. She hopes the crumbling manor will offer her a fresh start, far from the darkness of her own past. But the place is shadowed by grief and memories of long-faded glory, its rooms haunted by the only surviving member of the family, Lady Arabella Lascy. Vee is fascinated by her enigmatic new employer, a woman obsessed with the curse she believes has killed her family one by one and is coming for her next. Arabella's only hope for escape is a local folktale: the fabled dancing hare said to have blessed Hardfold centuries ago. Drawn ever deeper into the house's secrets and Lady Arabella's spell, Vee soon realizes that the greatest danger may lie not in Harfold's haunting history but in the truths she has tried so hard to bury. Lush, atmospheric, and charged with desire and dread, A Slow and Secret Poison is a gothic tale of obsession, betrayal, and the perilous bargains we strike with the past.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers1.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/66/802/498/1668024985_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "28.00", "online_price" : "28.00", "our_price" : "28.00", "club_price" : "28.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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With Carmella Lowkis’ sophomore novel, nature lovers and fans of sapphic stories with a darker bent will find an altogether memorable tale. Set in the 1920s in Wiltshire, England, A Slow and Secret Poison is narrated by Vee Morgan, a lesbian gardener (think blunt haircut, overalls, boots and an old straw hat) who hides a mysterious past. Despite signs that things are not entirely as they seem, Vee commits herself to a position managing the extensive grounds of a crumbling estate. Readers will feel happy for Vee as she digs in to gardening projects, shares meals with fellow live-in employees Tom and Nora and gradually embarks on a tenuous relationship with the manor’s Lady, Arabella Lascy. Meanwhile, Lowkis slips unsettling images of mold, rot and arachnids into scenes of decadence and nature, darkening the atmosphere. A family curse haunts Lady Arabella, and secrets, greed and violence lurk beneath the idyllic surface. Vee senses a threat, but her very human doubt, affection and insecurity cloud her judgment until the danger is already afoot. Lowkis skillfully delivers a gothic mood, maintaining the right balance between the pedestrian and the strange to make the story of A Slow and Secret Poison feel real. This balance carries over to the presentation of social issues: Conflicts around class and sexuality show up naturally, like they do in life. Beyond being entertained, readers may feel comforted by the depiction of women loving other women under casual circumstances a century before our own. Following a funny, brave, strong and complicated character in Vee, A Slow and Secret Poison gives readers a thrilling mystery and a positive window into the past all at once.