Furious Violet

"Outrageously entertaining." --New York Times

From the author of the bestselling phenomenon Dietland comes a razor-sharp, subversive thriller about motherhood, obsession, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Violet "West" Shelley, a self-described "low-brow" crime journalist, has unwillingly spent her life in the spotlight, as the only daughter of a legendary poet and feminist icon who died tragically young. Now as West approaches fifty--burned out, creatively blocked, and far older than her mother ever was--she retreats to her desolate Colorado hometown to finish a long-overdue book about the Crying Killer, a serial killer who sobs for his mother after committing his crimes.

But what begins as a bid for solitude quickly spirals into something far more sinister. A stalker emerges--mysterious, relentless, and disturbingly intimate--claiming that West is their mother; yet West knows this is impossible. As threatening messages escalate and her carefully constructed life starts to unravel, West is drawn into a chilling psychological web where the boundaries between fiction and reality collapse.

Is she being watched? Hunted? Or is her own mind turning against her?

Gripping, provocative, and laced with pitch-black humor, Furious Violet is a psychological thrill ride and a fierce exploration of motherhood, fame, and the question of who can lay claim to women's legacies. Sarai Walker delivers a heroine unlike any other: damaged, defiant, and utterly unforgettable.