The Decadence
On sale
25th September 2025
Price: £18.99
‘An exquisitely claustrophobic exploration of the places we do and don’t belong… This is a triumph of the queer gothic’
Jane Flett, author of Freakslaw
‘Lush, complex, and close to the bone, The Decadence filled me with horror in the best way’
Krystelle Bamford, author of Idle Grounds
At the height of lockdown, a group of flailing twenty-something friends makes an illicit break for freedom.
A grand country house stands empty. Once the home of Theo’s great uncle, it seems like the perfect place to get high and hang out in the spring sunshine, as they eschew adult responsibilities.
Since meeting as teenagers, rifts have grown amongst the group. Even as they are determined to enjoy themselves, tensions cast shadows between them – politics, sex and lies. The house, too, has its own dark history and exudes a palpable sense of menace.
Where do the drugs end and the supernatural begin? Will anger and jealousy tear the friends apart, or will it be more ominous forces? Their stay at Holt House will change them all…
Praise for Parallel Hells:
‘It’s the queer horror book of your dreams’ Kirsty Logan
‘A queer carnival of monsters and masks’ Julia Armfield
‘A book for anyone who likes to play in the dark’ Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
Jane Flett, author of Freakslaw
‘Lush, complex, and close to the bone, The Decadence filled me with horror in the best way’
Krystelle Bamford, author of Idle Grounds
At the height of lockdown, a group of flailing twenty-something friends makes an illicit break for freedom.
A grand country house stands empty. Once the home of Theo’s great uncle, it seems like the perfect place to get high and hang out in the spring sunshine, as they eschew adult responsibilities.
Since meeting as teenagers, rifts have grown amongst the group. Even as they are determined to enjoy themselves, tensions cast shadows between them – politics, sex and lies. The house, too, has its own dark history and exudes a palpable sense of menace.
Where do the drugs end and the supernatural begin? Will anger and jealousy tear the friends apart, or will it be more ominous forces? Their stay at Holt House will change them all…
Praise for Parallel Hells:
‘It’s the queer horror book of your dreams’ Kirsty Logan
‘A queer carnival of monsters and masks’ Julia Armfield
‘A book for anyone who likes to play in the dark’ Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
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Reviews
The Decadence is an exquisitely claustrophobic exploration of the places we do and don't belong. Sequestered in a pressure cooker of hedonistic excess, the horror creeps in insidiously - from the first tendrils of unease to the final horrible denouement. This is a triumph of the queer gothic
Lush, complex, and close to the bone, The Decadence filled me with horror in the best way - the horror of a classic haunted house tale, but also the horror of your twenties, with all its dead-ends, debauchery, self-doubt, and longing