House of Cotton

A Novel

in English, 304 pages,
Flatiron Books, April 04, 2023
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In Monica Brashears’ debut novel, a young woman in Tennessee needs to find a way to afford an abortion while navigating poverty, religion — and being haunted by her grandmother’s ghost.

One night, while working at her dead-end gas station job, Magnolia Brown encounters a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton. He offers to turn her luck around with a lucrative “modeling” job at his family’s funeral home―where she will pose as clients’ dead loved ones. She accepts. Despite earning more than she’s ever made, Magnolia finds that her problems are fattening along with her wallet. And when Cotton’s requests become increasingly strange, Magnolia discovers there’s a lot more at stake than just her rent.