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

‘A lush, intoxicating debut where secrets are poison and every touch carries the risk of contamination. A story of obsession and transformation, written with the relentless creep of untamed weeds and the bite of a thistle.’
– Kirsty Logan, author of Now She Is Witch

Nell has curated a perfect museum of the self: a successful career in archaeobotany, a pastel Instagram filled with flowers, and an uncompromising manicure routine. She’s convinced that her veneer of perfection will mask the parts of her she’d rather not think about.

When two ‘bog bodies’ are discovered in elaborate floral graves in a Somerset fen, Nell seizes the opportunity to excavate their secrets. But the deeper she digs into the fertile, waterlogged earth, the more she uncovers 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 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 with explorations of womanhood against a backdrop of eco-anxiety, Tender burrows into 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