Description
Description
For readers of Jane Harper, Paula Hawkins, and Megan Miranda comes a stunning and intricately woven story about a sleepy town, a mysterious death, and the family at the centre of it all. There is nothing like it. The way the world gets real quiet when a gator's nearby. The way no toad or bird or blade of grass in the landscape dares to move. And then the water, suddenly boiling as that black head surfaces and the ancient reptile erupts into the air hissing like a devil. . . . The way the crack of the rifle seems to come from deep inside Cutter, from someplace under her ribs. The way she feels it in her throat; she knows she's a good killer--and yet. She is stalling . . . The Labasques aren't like other families. Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators and other animals just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are troublemakers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn't want living on your doorstep. So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter's childhood friend, Loyal Duval, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother. Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed Cutter. Now there may be no way to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution . . .
About the Author
About the Author
Anna Bailey is a Sunday Times (London) bestselling author from Gloucestershire. Their debut novel, Tall Bones (published in the US as Where the Truth Lies), inspired by their experiences living in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, was nominated for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and Goldsboro Glass Bell awards, as well as the Prix Nouvelles Voix du Polar. Their short stories, based on their travels through rural America, have been dramatised for BBC Radio 4, including "Long Way to Come for a Sip of Water", which was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. They live in Bordeaux with their wife.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"Loyal May returns to her small hometown with unfinished business weighing on her. What unfolds from there will make you feel the heat of southern Louisiana seeping off the page. Anna Bailey is the master of things that move in the dark, with language so lush you feel like you could reach out and touch it. Our Last Wild Days is moody, visceral, stunning--don't miss it."
--Hayley Scrivenor, internationally best-selling author of Dirt Creek and Girl Falling "Raw and unflinching, Anna Bailey's Our Last Wild Days is about the mystery of how anyone survives as much as it is the mystery of how one woman didn't. In a beautifully observed story brimming with singular characters, small-town Louisiana still manages to steal the show, with Bailey playing anthropologist as much as fiction writer, painting a vivid portrait of a South that feels both familiar and fantastical. Out of alligators, fox skulls, violence, poverty, and love, they weave a spell that lasts from the first page until the shocking, unforgettable ending. This is a stunner."
--Ashley Winstead, bestselling author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour "A bewitching slice of southern Gothic, in Our Last Wild Days,
Anna Bailey cements thier reputation for writing thought-provoking, character-driven crime fiction."
--Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and The Blue Hour "A propulsive, bold and brutal slice of Southern Gothic brilliance. Anna Bailey writes so beautifully about family, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, yet also delivers a tough and truly atmospheric thriller."
--Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark "Our Last Wild Days has everything I love in a suspense novel: a vivid and gritty setting, characters with sharp edges, atmosphere that seeps through the pages, and a dark, gripping mystery. Best of all is Anna Bailey's exquisite prose, filled with lines worth tattooing and passages worth framing. This is a book that will sink into your bones."
--Megan Collins, author of Cross My Heart and The Family Plot
--Hayley Scrivenor, internationally best-selling author of Dirt Creek and Girl Falling "Raw and unflinching, Anna Bailey's Our Last Wild Days is about the mystery of how anyone survives as much as it is the mystery of how one woman didn't. In a beautifully observed story brimming with singular characters, small-town Louisiana still manages to steal the show, with Bailey playing anthropologist as much as fiction writer, painting a vivid portrait of a South that feels both familiar and fantastical. Out of alligators, fox skulls, violence, poverty, and love, they weave a spell that lasts from the first page until the shocking, unforgettable ending. This is a stunner."
--Ashley Winstead, bestselling author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour "A bewitching slice of southern Gothic, in Our Last Wild Days,
Anna Bailey cements thier reputation for writing thought-provoking, character-driven crime fiction."
--Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and The Blue Hour "A propulsive, bold and brutal slice of Southern Gothic brilliance. Anna Bailey writes so beautifully about family, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, yet also delivers a tough and truly atmospheric thriller."
--Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark "Our Last Wild Days has everything I love in a suspense novel: a vivid and gritty setting, characters with sharp edges, atmosphere that seeps through the pages, and a dark, gripping mystery. Best of all is Anna Bailey's exquisite prose, filled with lines worth tattooing and passages worth framing. This is a book that will sink into your bones."
--Megan Collins, author of Cross My Heart and The Family Plot
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Atria Books
Pub date:
2025-05-20
Length:
352 pages
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