Carmella Lowkis grew up in Wiltshire, UK, and has a degree in English literature and creative writing from the University of Warwick, where she was mentored by Sunday Times (London) bestselling author Sarah Moss. After graduating, she worked in libraries before moving into book marketing. Carmella lives in London with her girlfriend. You can follow her on X and Instagram @CarmellaLowkis. Spitting Gold is her first novel.

"Full of rich gothic decay and ratcheting tension, A Slow and Secret Poison is an incisive exploration of how privilege and class haunt us all. The sapphic love story kept me constantly guessing, even as twist after twist left me reeling." --Danielle Giles, author of Mere

"The family secrets of both women haunt this twisty gothic. Recommended for readers of Sarah Waters, Adrienne Young, and Catriona Ward who like books with darkness around every corner and inside every character." --Booklist

Praise for Carmella Lowkis's debut Spitting Gold

"A twisty, Gothic thriller...that has serious Sarah Waters vibes."--Entertainment Weekly

"This atmospheric tale has twists, schemes, and surprises that will keep the reader guessing until the last page."--Booklist

"Magnificent debut...Lowkis skillfully orchestrates the contentious relationship between Sylvie and Charlotte, each of whom resort to subterfuges and schemes, and pulls off a series of surprising twists that completely change the shape of the story. It's an auspicious first outing from a writer to watch."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Lowkis skillfully delivers a gothic mood . . . A Slow and Secret Poison gives readers a thrilling mystery and a positive window into the past all at once" --Bookpage

"An enticing sapphic love story that takes place on a supposedly cursed English manor...Lowkis effortlessly toggles between past and present, and the novel swerves artfully from gothic tropes to knotty and surprising psychological suspense. There's much to admire in this twisty tale." --Publishers Weekly

"Carmella Lowkis has a true talent for the creeping gothic. Her characters are alluring and settings entrancing. A Slow and Secret Poison conjures the uncertainty and dark potential of the interbellum in Great Britain in a thoroughly engrossing way. For fans of Sarah Waters, A Slow and Secret Poison is a must." --Emma Hinds, author of The Knowing

"A Slow and Secret Poison is one of the best gothic novels the genre has to offer. Twisty, erotic, and atmospheric, this one is sure to linger long after you have finished reading." --Johanna van Veen, author of Blood on Her Tongue and My Darling Dreadful Thing

"Atmospheric and delicious, A Slow and Secret Poison slowly unfolds its mysteries, taking in a 1920s sapphic love story, the class intrigue of The Little Stranger, and a reminder that some parts of the natural world are also poisonous. Carmella Lowkis has done it again with this deeply satisfying and gothic stunner." --Ally Wilkes, author of All the White Spaces and Where the Dead Wait

"I was utterly captivated--a truly compelling, immersive tale. If Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson had ever teamed up to write a novel, it would have turned out like this: intricately plotted, seductive, and sinister." --Naomi Kelsey, author of The Burnings

"A Slow and Secret Poison is Sapphic Gothic at its finest: it tricks and deceives the reader, charms you into one version of the story, frightens you with omens of a certain kind of evil, then flips the table over and makes you question everything--and everyone--you believed, and the nature of evil itself." --The Lesbrary

Publisher: Atria Books

Pub date: 2026-02-10

Length: 288 pages