She Made Herself A Monster

About the Book

Yana hunts monsters. Anka might be one. They'll need each other to survive.

'This exciting, gorgeous novel reminded me why I love vampire stories... I still have chills' Kate Heartfield, author of The Embroidered Book

Yana, a vampire hunter, rides into Koprivci promising salvation. The village’s curse has endured for many years and rumour has it that Anka – whose parents died on the night of her birth – is to blame. But enduring the villagers’ suspicion is the least of Anka’s worries; now she has reached womanhood, she can no longer avoid the odious marriage that seems to be her only option.

When animal corpses start to appear in the village square and eggs filled with blood are found in the chicken coops, panic rises. The villagers look to Yana for hope. She knows all about the monsters that stalk the night, monsters that only she can vanquish. But Yana is a liar. And monsters come in all different forms.

Yana and Anka become unlikely allies in hatching a plot to save both Koprivci and Anka from their fates. But then their plan takes on a horrifying life of its own...

'Brimming with folklore, superstitions and a dark gothic backdrop, this is a fantastic read for anyone seeking a character-driven story in a moody setting' Daily Mirror

'A tale of dark secrets, unnatural lusts and hidden violence' Annie Garthwaite, author of Cecily

'Chilling. . . expertly blending Bulgarian folklore with very modern fears and sensibilities' Laura Shepperson, author of The Heroines

'Poetic, visceral, dark... A terrifying read' Isabelle Schuler, author of Lady Macbethad

'An exquisitely-written feminist vampire story. . . Mesmerising' Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl

About the Author :
Anna Kovatcheva was born in Bulgaria and holds an MFA in fiction from New York University. Her chapbook, The White Swallow, was selected by Aimee Bender as the winner of the Goldline Press Chapbook Competition and published in 2015. Her short fiction has been anthologized in Best American Nonrequired Reading, and has appeared in The Kenyon Review and The Iowa Review. In 2023, she completed her first novel while in residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Review :
Brimming with folklore, superstitions and a dark gothic backdrop, this is a fantastic read for anyone seeking a character-driven story in a moody setting This exciting, gorgeous novel reminded me why I love vampire stories. Rooted in folklore and peopled with characters who are hauntingly real, She Made Herself a Monster never looks away from the consequences of burying humanity's evils too shallow and too near. I still have chills. With this tale of dark secrets, unnatural lusts and hidden violence, Anna Kovatcheva confirms that the most fearsome monsters lie not beyond our thresholds but within our homes and communities. Sometimes the place of greatest safety is out there in the dark unknown. Poetic, visceral, dark, Kovatcheva captures the monstrous in both the mythical and the mundane. A terrifying read that will leave you looking over your shoulder long after you finish reading Exquisite: atmospheric, startling, and beautiful. An enthralling story, with brilliantly complex characters and a fabulously claustrophobic setting Gorgeous and gruesome, pulses with folklore and reads like the best literary fiction As a longtime fan of Anna Kovatcheva’s shorter fiction, this deliciously dark debut novel delivers the same dreamlike prose I’ve come to admire, but digs far deeper into labyrinths of belief, desperation, and illusions of necessity. By turns horrific, atmospheric, and tender, this is a spell book that practices the best kind of magic—revealing the monsters embedded within and around us She Made Herself A Monster is a chilling examination of what it means to be a monster, expertly blending Bulgarian folklore with very modern fears and sensibilities, particularly concerning society's insistence on protecting the monsters while ignoring the suffering of those most vulnerable. A gothic yet topical read A poetic exploration of the power of stories. Inspired by Slavic folklore, the novel uses lyrical prose, realistically drawn characters, and multiple points of view to expose the monsters created to make sense of the shadows As a longtime fan of Anna Kovatcheva’s shorter fiction, this deliciously dark debut novel delivers the same dreamlike prose I’ve come to admire, but digs far deeper into labyrinths of belief, desperation, and illusions of necessity. By turns horrific, atmospheric, and tender, this is a spell book that practices the best kind of magic—revealing the monsters embedded within and around us