We are thrilled to launch Sonya Vatomsky’s exceptional debut novel, Under A Fur Coat, at Blackwell’s.

Join us for refreshments and to hear Sonya discuss the crafting of this sinister, snowbound mystery. Sonya will be in conversation with Jodie Matthews, author of Meet Me At The Surface.

Doors: 6.30pm, Starts: 6.45pm

Tickets are £5. A Book & Ticket option is available for £18.

About the book:

Vivienne, a photographer from Manchester, arrives at a boarding house on a tiny Finnish island hoping to rekindle her creativity and heal her broken heart. Instead, she misses her wife. Her camera hangs at her side unused. And her fellow guests keep inviting her into the forest.

Vivienne quickly grows close with Ilya, the affable caretaker, and Gagarin, a rebellious mycologist. And when Gagarin confesses she’s searching for a mythical bracket fungus – the Bigfoot of mushrooms – Vivienne throws herself headfirst into the cause.

The days pass in a blur of snow and birch trees and vodka. Yet the longer Vivienne spends in the forest, the more it consumes her. Haunted by lost time, inexplicable acts of violence, and rising tensions among the guests, Vivienne begins to suspect there’s something darker behind Gagarin’s determination. Because ambition always requires sacrifice. She’s just not sure whose…

About the author:

Sonya Vatomsky is a writer living in Manchester, England.

Sonya was born in the Soviet Union and grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where they studied Linguistics and Finnish at the University of Washington. They are the author of the forthcoming novel Under a Fur Coat, the poetry collection Salt is for Curing, and two poetry chapbooks. Their fiction has appeared in Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror while their nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Smithsonian Magazine.