Life Cycle of a Moth

Muscular, moving and muddy, Life Cycle of a Moth is an unflinching woodland fable you cannot miss. It’s astonishing and stirring; a debut novel tenderly cadenced and alchemical, and I’m still reeling from turning its final pages. Rowe Irvin is a born storyteller - LUCY ROSE, author of THE LAMB

An itchy feeling. A wrinkle in the forest. A cracking twig.

A coming sound. Myma, do you hear it?Myma, do you hear?Myma?Maya and Daughter live in complete isolation in a secluded woodland, their days aligned with the light and changing seasons, a complex pattern of routine and ritual. Daughter has never questioned the life her mother has chosen for them; the life that has meant she's never met another soul, or known anywhere except their forest home. But one day, when Daughter is almost sixteen, a red-haired stranger steps into the confines of their territory. Where there was always two, suddenly there are three - and the carefully constructed world that Maya has built to keep her daughter safe may not survive it. Urgent, haunting and thrillingly alive, Life Cycle of a Moth explores both the tenderness and ferocity of maternal love, asking what we might find ourselves capable of - and willing to sacrifice - in order to shelter those we hold dear.

A novel of creative fecundity, where the earth is as real as Daughter and Myma. Irvin’s prose is at once razor-sharp and profound. I will remember Life Cycle of a Moth for a long time to come - AMY TWIGG

As gentle and tender as it is dark and unsettling, Life Cycle of a Moth depicts a complex mother daughter relationship in a strange yet familiar setting. The prose is biting and rich, echoing the rankness and brittle beauty of the natural world. The mysteries at the novel's heart kept me riveted - MOLLY AITKEN