Bad Nature

Bad Nature is a brilliantly subversive and bleakly funny debut novel that combines the intensity of Lisa Taddeo's Animal with the dark humor of Patrick Cottrell's Sorry To Disrupt the Peace

It's Hester's fortieth birthday when she's diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she knows immediately what she must do: fulfill her lifelong dream of killing her abusive father. With no friends or family tying her to the life she's built in New York City, she quits her wildly lucrative job in corporate law and sets off cross-country in a rental car. She hasn't made it far when she runs into John, an environmental activist in need of a ride to different superfund sites across the United States. From five-star Midwestern hotels to cultish Southwestern compounds, the two slowly make their way across the country. But will the revelations made along the way dissuade Hester from her final goal?

Almost unthinkably bold but also deeply felt, Bad Nature is a novel of stunning detours and twists until its very final destination. As concerned with where we're headed as a species as it is in Hester's journey, it's ultimately a deft examination of the indulgence of holding grudges, moral ambivalence, and the eternal possibility of redemption.