Her Wicked Roots

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About the Book

Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Superior Achievement in a First Novel

In this queer retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne classic gothic story, Rappaccini’s Daughter, a young woman is lured to a lush estate owned by a botanist who might be hiding dark secrets.

Cordelia Beecher is on the run. In search of her missing brother Edward, she has fled the oppressive charity school she was raised in, desperate to find the only family she knows. Using clues from his past letters, she sets off for the sleepy town of Farrow but everyone there claims to have never heard of Edward—not even the man he was supposedly working for as an apprentice.

With nowhere to go, Cordi turns to Lady Evangeline, a local botanist who owns the magnificent Edenfield estate. The benevolent lady of the manor has made it her mission to take young, often traumatized, women into her employ and protect them from man’s world of wicked desires and deceits. Hired as a maid and companion to her enigmatic daughters, Prim and Briar, Cordi quickly settles into Edenfield. Even as her relationship with Briar blossoms, Cordi can’t help but suspect that there are secrets in the estate…and when she stumbles across evidence that Edward was once there, she’s determined to find answers.

Atmospheric, eerie, and thoroughly original, Her Wicked Roots will establish Tanya Pell as a “wickedly creepy” (Josh Winning, author of Heads Will Roll) and vital voice in horror.

Appearances

OCT 10
12:00AM
In Person

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Southern Gothic Book Festival
TBD
Camden, SC 29020
OCT 15
7:00PM
In Person

In conversation with Delilah Dawson & Grave Tales Book Club host Annelise Jancula

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Fred & June's Books
162 N Main St
Mooresville, NC 28115
OCT 17
12:00AM
In Person

Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival

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Lawrence Public Library
51 Lawrence Street
Lawrence, MA 01841
OCT 18
1:00PM
In Person

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Purple Couch Bookshop
350 Winthrop Ave
Unit 9b
North Andover, MA 01845
OCT 22
10:00AM
Virtual

Horror: In conversation with Becky Spratford, Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Elle Engel, Eric LaRocca, Gus Moreno

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Library Journal - Day of Dialogue
OCT 24
12:00AM
In Person

In conversation with Andrew Clark

Belmont Bookshop
7 N Main Street
Belmont, NC 28012
OCT 31
11:00AM
In Person

BookHeart Book Festival

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Distro Beer Hub
2412 Distribution St.
Charlotte, NC 28203
NOV 2
6:30PM
In Person

In Conversation with J.R. Ward

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The Historic Artcraft Theatre
57 N Main St, Franklin
Franklin, IN 46131
NOV 6
12:00AM
In Person

Horror on the Hudson

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Windrose on Hudson
1 Shady Lane Farm Rd
Ossining, NY 10562
NOV 12
6:30PM
In Person

In conversation with Savannah from Itinerant Literate Books, Jules from the Midnight Terrors Podcast, and friend-of-the-store Jeremy

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Madra Rua Irish Pub
1034 E Montague Ave.
North Charleston, SC 29405

About the Author

Daniel Clark Cunningham

Tanya Pell is a narcoleptic horror author who drinks bougie coffee and lives in the American South. She is the Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of Her Wicked Roots, Cicada, and several short stories featured in anthologies like Mother Knows Best and Obsolescence.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Gallery Books (October 7, 2025)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781668087312

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Raves and Reviews

“Her Wicked Roots is a stellar, genre-bending debut from Tanya Pell. It’s a full-fledged Gothic, creepy as hell and full of yearning, soaked in dread and mystery. I can’t want to see what Pell does next!” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Birds and The House of Last Resort

"Tanya Pell is a horror horticulturist who has cultivated a manic botanic gothic that grafts Silvia Moreno-Garcia to Daphne du Maurier, and what sprouts out is absolutely beautiful. Her Wicked Roots reaches in and rummages through the reader's subconscious until there's no weeding it out." —Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

"Tanya Pell’s Her Wicked Roots is a winding, creeping ivy, a nighttime garden bursting and blossoming with rich texture and dark, sinister bouquets. Beautiful flowers can, however, be deadly. A richly Gothic and lush retelling." —Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Vanishing Daughters

"Her Wicked Roots is a true treat, sure to delight and thrill in equal measure; a must-read for fans of queer gothic novels." —Johanna Van Veen, author of Blood on Her Tongue and My Darling Dreadful Thing

Darkly enchanting, Her Wicked Roots is haunting, propulsive and as hypnotic as the poisonous blooms at the novel’s heart. Truly a bewitching sapphic delight.” —Francesca May, author of Wild and Wicked Things and This Vicious Hunger

“This gorgeous, haunting story coiled tight around my heart and refused to let go. An intoxicating tale of secrets, desire, hurt and bravery, rooted in the fear of losing the ones we love. Tanya Pell is such an exciting voice in horror, and this gothic mystery is truly unforgettable.” —Josh Winning, author of Heads Will Roll

Tanya Pell skillfully brews a gothic Victorian horror novel that’s equal parts The Secret Garden and Midsommar… Like the belladonna plant that populates Edenfield, Her Wicked Roots is deceptively approachable—but beware of the poison just under the stunning surface.” —BookPage

"Eerie… It’s easy to sink into the spooky atmosphere, and an impressive final twist will catch even the most genre-savvy unaware. For readers seeking fun queer gothic horror, this delivers." —Publisher's Weekly

“Perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic (2022) or Kit Mayquist's Tripping Arcadia (2022), the book features a Gone Girl-esque twist that will plant this story’s wicked roots deep into readers' souls.” —Booklist

“Lush and languid… A full-blooded and enchanting gothic, that much like some of the flora it features, is beautiful and lethal in equal measure. Nothing short of spectacular, Pell’s latest is twisted, twisty, full of queer longing and chlorophyllic menace… There’s a quiet dread that Tanya Pell has clearly mastered. Rappaccini’s Daughter meets Silvia Moreno-Garcia in this claustrophobic, botanical beast of a book that is indeed as exquisite on the inside as its cover suggests. Thorny, horny, and full of tension.” —FanFiAddict

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