ECSTASY

In this dark horror reimagining of a Greek tragedy, a hedonistic cult teaches a new widow the true price of female freedom.

I know your bad habits. I am the devil on your shoulder. I am the puppeteer of your secret self. Lena wants her life back. Her wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. Lena lands in Athens with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son's, pet projectthe luxurious Agape Villas. Years of marriage amongst the wealthy have whittled Lena's spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. In Athens she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the cavernous, marble rooms of Agape, demanding that she fall in line. But Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the hotel. She can their music at night, hear their seductive leader calling her to dance. Soon she'll find that an ancient God stirs here on the beach, and women are waking up all around the island, driving mother and son toward a monstrous, gory battle, where only one of them will make it out alive. Ivy Pochoda is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Wonder Valley, Visitation Street, These Women, and Sing Her Down which won the LA Times Book Prize. She won the 2018 Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and the Prix Page America in France, and has been a finalist for the the Edgar Award, among other awards. For many years, Ivy taught creative writing at Studio 526 in Los Angeles's Skid Row. She is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California Riverside-Palm Desert low-residency MFA program. She lives in Los Angeles.