{"product_id":"9781961341128","title":"The Stepdaughter","description":"\u003cb\u003eA wicked stepmother finds her ideal prey in Carlone Blackwood's “quite brilliant” (\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e) debut.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA lavish Upper West Side apartment is the site of a familial cold war about to enter a phase of dangerous escalation.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e J is a lonely woman without even the luxury of being alone. Her husband has fled to Paris with his latest flame, but he’s left J not only with their own four-year-old daughter, Sally Ann, but with the sulky cake-mix addicted, thirteen-year-old Renata, a leftover from his previous marriage. The presence of a pert au pair, Monique, serves only to make J feel more isolated and self-conscious. What she’d like is someone to blame.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Writing letters in her head to imaginary friends, J delights in dwelling on the hapless Renata, who “invites a kind of cruelty.” This is an invitation J fully intends to take up—and like so many stepmothers before her, she will find that wickedness, once indulged, is a difficult habit to kick. A mordant black splinter of a book, Caroline Blackwood’s first novel stands as proof positive of her eternal mastery—and mockery—of the darkest depths of human feeling.","brand":"Caroline Blackwood","offers":[{"title":"McNally Editions |  Paperback \/ softback | Trade paperback (US) |  2024-08-06","offer_id":45348965974271,"sku":"9781961341128","price":25.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_dae771b5-66e4-4d44-bd65-929e23cf3378.jpg?v=1714238116","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781961341128","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}