In the Dream House: Winner of The Rathbones Folio Prize 2021

'Ravishingly beautiful' Observer
'Excruciatingly honest and yet vibrantly creative' Irish Times
'Provocative and rich' Economist
'Daring, chilling, and unlike anything else you've ever read' Esquire
'An absolute must-read for 2020' Stylist

WINNER OF THE 2021 RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE

In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing experience with a charismatic but volatile woman, this is a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse.
Each chapter views the relationship through a different lens, as Machado holds events up to the light and examines them from distinct angles. She casts a critical eye over legal proceedings, fairy tales, Star Trek and Disney villains, as well as iconic works of film and fiction, infusing all with her characteristic wit, playfulness and openness to enquiry. The result is a powerful book that explodes our ideas about what a memoir can do and be.

We Say...
Mesmerising and devastating, this memoir explores an abusive relationship, revealing so much about the stories we tell ourselves, and the terrifying potential for violence in intimate relationships. Defying both genre and stigma, it is unlike anything you've read before.
Sophia, bookseller