MY THROAT AN OPEN GRAVE

MY THROAT AN OPEN GRAVE interrogates the societal pressure put on girls, told through a mix of folk and psychological horror and conceptualized as Labyrinth x The Grace Year x Hadestown. 

Leah Jones has no hope for a future outside of Winston, Pennsylvania. She’s on the verge of

dropping out of high school, barely balancing her job at the gas station with her duty to care for

her baby brother, Owen. But when Owen is taken by the Lord of the Wood, Leah must face the

dangers of the wood to write a song that will win Owen back—and the truth of how her life went

so very wrong.

Critical Reviews

 "A must-read for truth seekers and those hoping to glimpse a world built around kindness and acceptance."
―Booklist, starred review

"To unravel the mystery of her female predecessors, Leah must combat psyche-damaging ideals of what being a "good" person means in this brilliantly savage indictment of societal judgment."

―Shelf Awareness, starred review

"Tightly written and clearly envisioned [...] a standout new release. The story is cloaked in fantasy-like horror but remains grounded in its themes of religious trauma and the pernicious evil of purity culture. [...] If you like books about women who misbehave and refuse to be punished for it, you’ll want to pick this one up."
―NPR's Here & Now

"In this darkly atmospheric tale of folk horror, Bovalino [...] employs sophisticated prose to perceptively examine the town’s unspecified oppressive religious institutions and how its tenets keep the young women of Winston from achieving their full potential or pursuing happiness."
―Publishers Weekly

"[A] welcome addition to the paranormal genre that concentrates on just what it means to be good. Readers of Ava Reid’s works will devour this book."
―SLJ

"Bovalino [...] is proving to be a master of atmosphere, mining the insularity of a small town to maximize tension while still emphasizing the unnatural elements in the seemingly more welcoming but still unsettling village in the woods."
―BCCB 

Content Warnings

Blood, gore, suicidal ideation, animal death (deer), body horror, death, murder. Scroll further for warnings including spoilers.

Warnings including spoilers

Childbirth, pregnancy, religious trauma.