The Decadence

The Decadence is an exquisitely claustrophobic exploration of the places we do and don’t belong. Sequestered in a pressure cooker of hedonistic excess, the horror creeps in insidiously - from the first tendrils of unease to the final horrible denouement. This is a triumph of the queer gothic – Jane Flett, author of FreakslawLush, complex, and close to the bone, The Decadence filled me with horror in the best way - the horror of a classic haunted house tale, but also the horror of your twenties, with all its dead-ends, debauchery, self-doubt, and longing – Krystelle Bamford, author of Idle GroundsNot since The Haunting of Hill House have I read anything as simultaneously poised, claustrophobic and rank with evil as The Decadence. Bringing together an incestuous cohort of friends, buried secrets and unlimited intoxicants in a location of sentient malevolence, The Decadence is both a deeply unnerving read and a sly commentary on the skeletons in Britain’s closet. If the idea of Iris Murdoch meeting Mariana Enriquez in a country house during lockdown appeals to you, I urge you to read The Decadence. It delivers on its promises in spades – Victoria Gosling, author of Bliss & BlunderLush, sinister, and blackly funny, The Decadence sings with suffused spite and the specific horror of personal and physical inertia. Trapped in idyll, its protagonists suffer both their own worst proclivities and the inverted menace of their closest relationships. Rich, intelligent prose underpins delicate exploration of some of our most profound moral quandaries, while the expansive, decaying house smothers its occupants with the weight of its own gasping history, resulting in a finale as sadistic as it is satisfying. – Kate Collins, author of A Good House for ChildrenThe Decadence’s group of late twenty-somethings bicker, seethe and hard party their way through a genuinely creepy and evocative contemporary ghost story which weaves together queerness, lockdown flouting, and the malevolent inheritances of history with deftness and aplomb. Leon Craig has a keen eye for observation and a very dark and distinctive imagination and this novel intrigues and unsettles – Sharlene Teo, author of PontiA gothic, lascivious tale about longing, lust and loneliness – Sally Oliver, author of The Weight of Loss

Leon Craig is a writer from North London. She studied English at UCL, Medieval Literature at Oxford and Creative Writing at Birkbeck. Her writing has been published by the White Review, the TLS, Another Gaze and the London Magazine, among others.