Tender
Lauren Du Plessis

'An obsessive, oppressive, feverish work of folk-horror tangling and twining into body-horror... Lauren Du Plessis has created a weird and evocative world that you can never quite pull away from, dripping with atmosphere and palpable unease. It’s an odd, spiky and compelling read.'
– Adam Leslie, author of Lost in the Garden

‘Du Plessis weaves an intricate garland of folklore, body horror and elegant surrealism into this intriguing and disturbing novel. The intrinsic power of nature, and the threat it can hold over humanity, loom large in this absorbing, weird and unsettling debut.’
– Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall Refuse Them

Twenty-eight-year-old Nell has curated a perfect museum of the self: early accolades in her career as an archaeobotanist, a pastel Instagram filled with flowers, and a consistent manicure routine to give a veneer of control. But there has always been a part of her that doesn’t fit the mask of perfection she wears.

When two ‘bog bodies’ are discovered in elaborate floral graves in a Somerset fen, Nell gets the opportunity of a lifetime to excavate and uncover their secrets. But the deeper she digs into the fertile, waterlogged mud, the more she uncovers repressed memories of her unsettled childhood and strained relationship with her sister… and the more her body manifests her own wildness in ways she can’t ignore. 

Under the pressure of a blazing summer, Nell whirlwinds into a heated but toxic romance, intense friendships, and the brutal process of reconciling her past and her future before the weight of it all buries her, too. 

Blending folkloric horror and an exploration of womanhood, against a background of eco-anxiety, Tender beautifully depicts the quiet violence of overcoming and accepting our darkest sides.

About the Author

Lauren du Plessis is a British writer of speculative, folkloric, and weird fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Litro and Mslexia among others. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Literature at Oxford Brookes University, and has worked across marketing and narrative writing, mostly for games. She lives in the bluebell-saturated chalk hills of the Chilterns with her family.

Tender is her first novel.

Paperback ISBN: 9781914391606

Ebook ISBN: 9781914391613

Publication date: September 2025

Formats: Paperback / eBook