The Parentations - Softcover

‘The omniscient narrative flits from character to character, creating a kaleidoscopic effect that suits the fantastical nature of the story and the hurtling passage of the years. London itself, and the Thames, are also central characters as we watch the city and the river evolve and change through the passage of time..... An intriguing novel, with elements of Nordic myth, the Dickensian underworld and Victorian gothic.’

‘Spanning centuries, this is an exuberant, vividly imagined and structurally triumphant novel with a strong Dickensian undertow.’

‘The Parentations is beautiful, innovative and atmospheric. I was completely captivated.’

‘Epic. Gothic. Magic. Somebody better snap up the film rights.’

‘Reminiscent of both Carr’s Alienist and Norfolk’s John Saturnall’s Feast, this debut novel is utterly compelling – acute plotting, vivid characters and writing so accomplished that Mayfield has you by the throat from the very start.’

'Mayfield's delightfully rich and uncanny novel, The Parentations, manages to be pacy and addictive, while simultaneously asking profound questions about life and death. Quite unlike anything I've ever read before.'

'The Parentations is a story told on an epic scale, taking the reader from the wilds of 18th century Iceland to present day Camden Town, and which is as much about the nature of love as it is about the nature of evil. Kate Mayfield weaves her uncanny tale with rich historical detail, creating an atmospheric read which is vivid and compelling.'

'So inventive and unexpected and original.'

‘An ambitious, wildly imaginative masterpiece.’

‘A hugely impressive novel – I loved it.'

Kate Mayfield is a novelist and memoirist. Her debut novel The Parentations is a work of speculative historical fiction.

The Undertaker’s Daughter is a memoir about her childhood in the American South. Her father was an undertaker in a small segregated town where her family resided in his funeral home for over a decade. She is the co-author of two additional non-fiction books and has written for The Guardian and several online magazines.

After attending Western Kentucky University, Kate moved to New York where she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She now makes London her home.