The Withers

In the aftermath of a devastating epidemic, bodies marked with eerie patterns called withers become symbols of a painful past— a past many want to forget. Riatta, one of the marked, finds herself cast out, a survivor of controversial surgeries that saved her life but cost her everything else. Seeking refuge, she recovers in the home of a surgeon who once saved her. But when she learns his wife is pregnant, a shadow falls over this fragile sanctuary. Ruthless organ traffickers roam the streets, and Riatta is drawn into a desperate fight to protect the unborn child and her friends. With what Lisa Gornick calls “ the creeping terror of a Grimm’ s fairy tale,” The Withers is a haunting exploration of obsession, loss, loyalty, and the fragile threads of memory. In a world plagued by betrayal, can trust ever be reclaimed?

Lee Upton is the author of the comic novel Tabitha, Get Up, and the literary mystery Wrongful, as well as collections of poetry, short stories, and literary criticism. Her poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, in many other magazines, and in three editions of Best American Poetry.