Mona Awad – författare

THE TIKTOK SENSATION, NOW REISSUED AS A BEAUTIFUL SPECIAL EDITION FEATURING BUNNY SPRAYED EDGESMeet BUNNY: the darkly funny, spellbinding trip of a novel that EVERYONE is talking about'No punches pulled, no hilarities dodged, no meme unmangled. O Bunny you are sooo genius!' MARGARET ATWOODWe call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort – a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny provides a hilarious look at the dark side of female friendship from one of fiction's most original voices.'The Secret History meets Jennifer's Body. Brilliant, sharp, weird... I loved it and I couldn't put it down.' KRISTEN ROUPENIAN 'Made me nod and cackle in terrified recognition.' LENA DUNHAM 'Hilarious, hallucinogenic freakery.' DAILY MAIL 'Cerebral and complusively readable.' VANITY FAIR

From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty.Can she escape her mother’s fate and find a connection that is more than skin deep?A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 in The Guardian, i newspaper, The New York Times, Time, Globe and Mail, Bustle, The Millions, LitHub, TOR, Good Housekeeping, Our Culture Mag, and more!'You think, “She’s not going to go there…yes, she is.' Margaret Atwood 'The trancelike, rhapsodic language and deepening atmosphere of unreality make for a narrative that oozes with unease.' The Guardian‘Rouge is a must-read for anyone who has found themselves obsessively, and even dangerously, fixated on self-improvement. [...] Dreamline, hypnotic and enchanting in its language, Rouge proves Awad is a huge talent’ Stylist, Book of the MonthFor as long as she can remember, Belle has been obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

The highly-anticipated follow up to the viral sensation Bunny, a brilliantly written, laugh-out-loud funny, dark and delirious novel set in the Bunny-verse – a world that Margaret Atwood declared ‘soooo genius’.A Finalist in the Nota Bene Prize 2026In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracised and then seduced by a clique of her saccharine sweet, rich girl cohort (who call one another ‘Bunny’). An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus Workshops where monstrous creations are conjured with wondrous yet deadly consequences.When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers — and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation. With a bound and gagged Sam, we embark on a wickedly intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia: a fairy tale slasher that explores the wonder and horror of creation itself. Not to mention the transformative powers of love and friendship, Bunny. Frankenstein by way of Heathers, We Love You, Bunny is a prequel and a sequel, and an unabashedly wild and totally complete standalone novel. Open your hearts, Bunny, to a dazzlingly original and darkly hilarious romp in the Bunny-verse from the queen of the fever dream, Mona Awad.‘Fresh yet nostalgic, darkly funny and a complete page-turner’ - Daily Mirror‘Layered with wild twists, it’s akin to Stephen King’s Misery crossed with Yellowface and The Secret History.’ - Daily MailA goofy, overblown flower of a book with lots of thorns that pleasurably scratch’ – Guardian‘Unhinged in the best way’ – i paper‘Gleeful, grotesque and wildly off kilter, the novel is full of meta-fictional fun’ – Mail on Sunday

The highly-anticipated follow up to the viral sensation Bunny, a brilliantly written, laugh-out-loud funny, dark and delirious novel set in the Bunny-verse – a world that Margaret Atwood declared ‘soooo genius’. In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracised and then seduced by a clique of her saccharine sweet, rich girl cohort (who call one another ‘Bunny’). An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus Workshops where monstrous creations are conjured with wondrous yet deadly consequences.When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers — and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation. With a bound and gagged Sam, we embark on a wickedly intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia: a fairy tale slasher that explores the wonder and horror of creation itself. Not to mention the transformative powers of love and friendship, Bunny. Frankenstein by way of Heathers, We Love You, Bunny is a prequel and a sequel, and an unabashedly wild and totally complete standalone novel. Open your hearts, Bunny, to a dazzlingly original and darkly hilarious romp in the Bunny-verse from the queen of the fever dream, Mona Awad.‘Fresh yet nostalgic, darkly funny and a complete page-turner’ - Daily MirrorA goofy, overblown flower of a book with lots of thorns that pleasurably scratch’ – Guardian‘Unhinged in the best way’ – i paper

THE TIKTOK SENSATION, NOW REISSUED AS A BEAUTIFUL SPECIAL EDITION FEATURING BUNNY SPRAYED EDGESMeet BUNNY: the darkly funny, spellbinding trip of a novel that EVERYONE is talking about'No punches pulled, no hilarities dodged, no meme unmangled. O Bunny you are sooo genius!' MARGARET ATWOODWe call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort – a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny provides a hilarious look at the dark side of female friendship from one of fiction's most original voices.'The Secret History meets Jennifer's Body. Brilliant, sharp, weird... I loved it and I couldn't put it down.' KRISTEN ROUPENIAN 'Made me nod and cackle in terrified recognition.' LENA DUNHAM 'Hilarious, hallucinogenic freakery.' DAILY MAIL 'Cerebral and complusively readable.' VANITY FAIR

The tragicomic novel of the summer, a ‘dark and insane gem’ from the author of the critically acclaimed TikTok sensation Bunny ‘A dazzling wild ride of a novel – daring, fresh, entertaining, and magical.’ — George Saunders‘All's Well is an utterly delicious novel of pain and vitality, Shakespeare and the uncanny.’ — Lauren Groff Miranda Fitch’s life is a waking nightmare. The accident that ended her burgeoning acting career left her with excruciating, chronic back pain, a failed marriage, and a deepening dependence on painkillers. And now she’s on the verge of losing her job as a college theater director. Determined to put on Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, the play that promised, and cost, her everything, she faces a mutinous cast hellbent on staging Macbeth instead. Miranda sees her chance at redemption slip through her fingers.That’s when she meets three strange benefactors who have an eerie knowledge of Miranda’s past and a tantalizing promise for her future: one where the show goes on, her rebellious students get what’s coming to them, and the invisible, doubted pain that’s kept her from the spotlight is made known.With prose Margaret Atwood has described as ‘no punches pulled, no hilarities dodged... genius’, Mona Awad has concocted her most potent, subversive novel yet. All’s Well is the story of a woman at her breaking point and a formidable, piercingly funny indictment of our collective refusal to witness and believe female pain.  Longlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award.

THE TIKTOK SENSATION, NOW REISSUED AS A BEAUTIFUL SPECIAL EDITION FEATURING BUNNY SPRAYED EDGESMeet BUNNY: the darkly funny, spellbinding trip of a novel that EVERYONE is talking about'No punches pulled, no hilarities dodged, no meme unmangled. O Bunny you are sooo genius!' MARGARET ATWOODWe call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort – a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny provides a hilarious look at the dark side of female friendship from one of fiction's most original voices.'The Secret History meets Jennifer's Body. Brilliant, sharp, weird... I loved it and I couldn't put it down.' KRISTEN ROUPENIAN 'Made me nod and cackle in terrified recognition.' LENA DUNHAM 'Hilarious, hallucinogenic freakery.' DAILY MAIL 'Cerebral and complusively readable.' VANITY FAIR

From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty.Can she escape her mother’s fate and find a connection that is more than skin deep?A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 in The Guardian, i newspaper, The New York Times, Time, Globe and Mail, Bustle, The Millions, LitHub, TOR, Good Housekeeping, Our Culture Mag, and more!'You think, “She’s not going to go there…yes, she is.' Margaret Atwood 'The trancelike, rhapsodic language and deepening atmosphere of unreality make for a narrative that oozes with unease.' The Guardian‘Rouge is a must-read for anyone who has found themselves obsessively, and even dangerously, fixated on self-improvement. [...] Dreamline, hypnotic and enchanting in its language, Rouge proves Awad is a huge talent’ Stylist, Book of the MonthFor as long as she can remember, Belle has been obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

"Rouge is a fever dream—a brilliant, intense, unforgettable horror story about a beauty cult with a deeply moving mother-daughter story at its core. Mona Awad’s signature and singular imagination and black humor and empathy are on full display here, and her wild-ride of a tale is masterfully grounded in the emotional devastation of childhood and grief. I loved every word of this."—Laura Zigman, author of Small World"There is nobody else like Mona Awad, daring enough to plunge her hands—rings and all—into the viscera of story and discover an unsettling beauty within. ROUGE is her most magnetic work yet, a thrilling dystopian romp that knows that beneath the glossy, aspirational veneer of self-care lurks the same old gothic abyss."—Alexandra Kleeman, author of Something New Under the Sun"A brilliant, biting critique of western beauty standards as well as a soaring, phantasmagoric, Angela Carter-esque fairy tale about trauma and the loss of self. Rouge is deeply unsettling, funny, obsessive, and unlike anything I've read. A truly mesmerizing read."—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts "Unsettling, whimsical, and moving, Rouge is an authentic, innovative kind of narrative magic that's both surreal and absolute. A striking novel of incandescence and heart."—Iain Reid, author of I'm Thinking of Ending ThingsFrom the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa her mother to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, ROUGE explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, ROUGE holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

The highly-anticipated follow up to the viral sensation Bunny, a brilliantly written, laugh-out-loud funny, dark and delirious novel set in the Bunny-verse – a world that Margaret Atwood declared ‘soooo genius’. In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracised and then seduced by a clique of her saccharine sweet, rich girl cohort (who call one another ‘Bunny’). An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus Workshops where monstrous creations are conjured with wondrous yet deadly consequences.When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers — and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation. With a bound and gagged Sam, we embark on a wickedly intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia: a fairy tale slasher that explores the wonder and horror of creation itself. Not to mention the transformative powers of love and friendship, Bunny. Frankenstein by way of Heathers, We Love You, Bunny is a prequel and a sequel, and an unabashedly wild and totally complete standalone novel. Open your hearts, Bunny, to a dazzlingly original and darkly hilarious romp in the Bunny-verse from the queen of the fever dream, Mona Awad.‘Fresh yet nostalgic, darkly funny and a complete page-turner’ - Daily MirrorA goofy, overblown flower of a book with lots of thorns that pleasurably scratch’ – Guardian‘Unhinged in the best way’ – i paper‘Gleeful, grotesque and wildly off kilter, the novel is full of meta-fictional fun’ – Mail on Sunday

Frankenstein meets Heathers in this dazzling, hilarious, and deliciously dark follow-up to the viral sensation Bunny, from Margaret Atwood’s ‘literary heir’, Mona Awad Fall down the rabbit hole into the intoxicating world of Mona Awad’s second darkly comic tour de force set in the Bunny-verse. From the queen of the fever-dream herself comes the pulse-pounding sequel, prequel, and stand-alone companion to her cult classic novel Bunny.Samantha Heather Mackey was originally ostracised by the clique of creepy-sweet rich girls in her highly selective MFA program who call each other ‘Bunny’. Then she found herself thrown into the violently surreal world of their off-campus ‘Workshop’, where monstrous creations were conjured with deadly and wondrous consequences.​When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. With Sam bound and gagged, we plunge headfirst into the wickedly intoxicating fairy tale they offer up as their side of the story. The Bunnies take turns recounting the birth of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers – and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation. Dazzlingly original and wildly hilarious, We Love You, Bunny promises another captivating descent into dark academia and a profound exploration of just how deeply our fictions reveal the truth of our hearts.PRAISE FOR WE LOVE YOU, BUNNY'We Love You, Bunny returns to the uncanny terrain that made Awad cult-famous [and] burrows further into the fragmented, hallucinatory terrain she began to chart in Bunny. Her commitment to the surreal is gripping, as is her evolving command of structure — the way her stories fold in on themselves, mimicking the mental contortions of her narrator. With its feverish premise, metafiction turns, and a built-in cult following hungry for more, We Love You, Bunny is poised to be the buzziest release of the season.' Women.com "Most Anticipated Book Releases of Fall 20252"'[Awad’s] command of acerbic wit and satiric plotlines, talent for characterization, and sharp metacriticism of creative writing programs make her story sing in the way only bleeding tongues, broken hearts, and battle axes can… It’s Bookstagram-worthy dark academia that’s alarming, allegorical, and nuanced and unravels Bunny catastrophically and captivatingly. Fans of Atwood, R.F. Kuang, and Marisha Pessl will savor this book, whose heady, unsettling intellectualism builds on Awad’s reputation as one of today’s boldest feminist satirists.' Library Journal (starred)‘Mona Awad has returned and her latest will get under your skin just the way her fans have come to expect.’ PEOPLE‘Awad adds another brilliant roast of academia to the shelves, once again unmatched in playful language… with dialogue-heavy, laugh-out-loud funny, cinematic prose… Readers will laugh to tears and be fully immersed in this ethereal trip back to Warren.’ Booklist (starred)‘The Bunnies get to tell their side of the story: it’s an Alice in Wonderland, dark academia, slasher romp that is so much fun.’ Lit Hub, "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025, Part Two"‘Awad’s prose remains as biting as ever, skillfully oscillating between the lyrical and the absurd. Readers need not be familiar with Bunny to appreciate this outing, though fans will relish the deepened mythology and twisted callbacks. This bold satire breaks exciting new ground in the Bunny universe.’ Publishers Weekly

'A beautiful, necessary book' ROXANE GAY'Luminous... Full of sharp insight and sly humour' KATHERINE HEINYLizzie doesn't like the way she looks. Though she dates guys online, she's afraid to send pictures: no-one wants a fat girl. So Lizzie starts to lose weight. With punishing drive she counts almonds consumed and pounds dropped, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, her friends, her husband and her own reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl? In this darkly funny, deeply resonant novel, Mona Awad delivers a tender and moving depiction of a young woman whose life is hijacked by her struggle to conform.