She Made Herself A Monster

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. – Kate Heartfield, author of THE EMBROIDERED BOOKWith 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. – Annie Garthwaite, author of CECILYPoetic, 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 – Isabelle Schuler, author of LADY MACBETHADExquisite: atmospheric, startling, and beautiful. An enthralling story, with brilliantly complex characters and a fabulously claustrophobic setting – Naomi Kelsey, author of THE BURNINGSGorgeous and gruesome, pulses with folklore and reads like the best literary fiction – Julia FineAs 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 – Sequoia NagamatsuA 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 * Library Journal *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 – Sequoia NagamatsuKovatcheva has woven a darkly mesmerizing tale of folklore, witchcraft, and monsters that will linger at the corners of your dreams long after you’ve finished reading. She Made Herself a Monster is the best kind of vampire story—one in which the real evil is us – Peng ShepherdExplores the terrors and joys of faith and self-determination with endless imagination and ferocity… a powerful new voice attuned to the joys of the grotesque and pains of the ordinary, merging the best of literary fiction, horror, and fable for an intoxicating witch’s brew. A pleasure to read and a challenge to forget, it’s both delightfully wicked and deeply wise – Jaroslav Kalfar, author of SPACEMAN OF BOHEMIA

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.