The Starving Saints

“As brilliant as it is bizarre. From the very first page you know you are in the hands of an author at the height of their abilities. Truly one of the most inventive, audacious, immersive novels I’ve ever read. Grips you like the cold sweat of a fever and doesn’t let you go until the final moment of dizzying, gut-shot revelation. This is the unhinged cannibal book of my dreams—and my nightmares.”— Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning“Holy crap on a stick, this book is messed up in the best way. The Starving Saints broke my brain. It’s cannibalism like you’ve never seen it before!”— T. Kingfisher, bestselling author of Nettle & Bone“The Starving Saints is a rich, strange, deeply medieval novel that left me astonished and delighted. Starling expertly dismantles our expectations in this perfectly rendered puzzle box of a world. I would follow these women anywhere, which would probably not end well for me.”— Kate Heartfield, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Embroidered Book  “This fantastical story is transfixing on its own, but it also serves to underscore that humanity’s obsession with power may be the biggest horror of all… . A brilliantly constructed and thoroughly unnerving fever dream that Starling’s fans will gulp down.”  — Library Journal (starred review)“This medieval fever dream is seasoned with sapphic romance but thoroughly marinated in cannibalistic body horror… . Starling cleverly balances the carnage-filled surrealism with three women who show their love in ways both passionate and deep.” — Booklist (starred review)“A masterful medievalesque fantasy … . Starling expertly balances the plot’s contrasting aims, offering gruesome horror and sweeping fantasy worldbuilding in equal measure. The dextrously delineated human hierarchy in the castle and the creepy saints’ bee-based faith system undergird the increasingly shocking events of the plot. The pace is fast, the twists are unexpected, and the complex queer characters—each of whom narrate in wonderfully distinct voices—are easy to root for. This is a feast.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Starling is one of the new leading voices in horror,” — Locus“A delicious Gothic romance…. It has to walk the line between romance and horror and not flinch away from either. The Death of Jane Lawrence is up to this task…. By the time the book reached that point of no return, I was so invested that I would have followed Jane into the very depths of hell.”  — NPR

Caitlin Starling is a writer and spreadsheet-wrangler who lives near Portland, Oregon. Equipped with an anthropology degree and an unhealthy interest in the dark and macabre, she writes horror-tinged speculative fiction of all flavors. The Luminous Dead is her first novel.