FRAGILE ANIMALS | VERVE BOOKS
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Official Print Publication Date:
24 November 2026
PRINT
Publication Date: 24 November 2026
Format: Paperback
Extent: 288 pp
Our Price: 11.99
ISBN: 9780857307002

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Publication Date:1 January 1970
Format: ebook(ePub)
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FRAGILE ANIMALS

Genevieve Jagger


When an ex-catholic woman develops a sexual relationship with a vampire, she is forced to confront the memories that haunt her religious past.

Struggling to deal with the familial trauma of her Catholic upbringing, hotel cleaner, Noelle, travels to the Isle of Bute. There, she meets a man who claims to be a vampire, and a relationship blooms between them based solely on confession.

But as talk turns sacrilegious, and the weather outside grows colder, Noelle struggles to come to terms with her blasphemous sexuality. She becomes hounded by memories of her past: her mother's affair with the local priest, and the part she played in ending it.

Bridging the gaps between contemporary gothic fiction, queer fiction and magical realism, Fragile Animals lures readers into Noelle's loose grasp on her world and immerses them in some of Scotland's most harsh and claustrophobic environments.

This novel contains references to self harm, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, domestic abuse, religious trauma, queer trauma and acts of homophobia.

PRESS REVIEWS FOR Fragile Animals

'A slick literary vampire novel to sink your teeth into'
- Alice Slater  

'Shirley Jackson meets The Wasp Factory... Bold, beguiling and breathtaking'
- Carrie Marshall  

'A queer literary novel you simply must add to your TBR'
- Lucy Rose  

'To read Jagger's prose is to be riven; like the call of the ocean, one gazes into the story and becomes engulfed - Fragile Animals invites the reader into an awakening of the self which feels at once violent and immobilising'
- Elle Nash  

'This strikingly accomplished debut novel is a fresh, psychologically astute take... Beautifully written. Jagger has a natural flair for eloquent, flowing yet visceral prose'
- Herald 

'Gorgeous and gothic'
- i-D 

'Visceral, vivacious and - though certainly not conventionally - vampiric'
- The Skinny 

'One of the most inventive and arresting novels of the year... Horror and the supernatural are at their best when they make comment on the all-too-real-world, and Fragile Animals is an impeccable example of this'
- Snack Magazine 

'Captivating and original gothic novel... It's a rollicking good tale, one that bodes well for Jagger's literary future'
- Big Issue