A seductively gothic reimagining of the original femme fatale, about an adrift American journalist who accepts an alluring stranger''s invitation to stay at her home in a small French town, only to uncover a dangerous family history that could alter the course of humanity. Courtney notices Salomé the moment she steps onto the plane. She''s not usually influenced by others'' charms, but there''s something undeniable about;Salomé. She''s magnetic, quicksilver, and, best of all for incurable Francophile Courtney, But things are, almost immediately, a little odd. Despite feeling right at home with Salomé, a house outfitted with cameras and the dark, watchful presence of Salomé’s mother haunts Courtney’s visit. Courtney senses she should leave, but in Salomé’s presence she feels as if she''s rediscovered the “French Courtney,” an alternate version of herself who made a life in France. That is, until she starts to experience paralyzing nightmares, in which strange voices intone A modern reclamation of one of the Bible’s most dangerous women whose story, until now, has been almost exclusively told by men, <Salomé <is a tantalizing, feminist tale exploring power, loyalty, connection, and the measures we''ll take to harness our deepest desires....

Autorentext
Leslie Baird is an author and ghostwriter. She holds an MFA in fiction from Sewanee, the University of the South, and lives in Europe. Salomé is her debut novel.

Zusammenfassung
*"Hauntingly seductive . . . Baird’s lush, hypnotic prose had me in a trance from the very first page. A riveting debut!" —Monika Kim, internationally bestselling author of The Eyes are the Best Part*

"Sexy, bold, and impossible to put down." —Sanaë Lemoine, author of The Margot Affair

A seductively gothic reimagining of the original femme fatale, about an adrift American journalist who accepts an alluring stranger’s invitation to stay at her home in a small French town, only to uncover a dangerous family history that could alter the course of humanity.**

Don’t open your eyes...

Courtney notices Salomé the moment she steps onto the plane. She’s magnetic, quicksilver, and, best of all for incurable Francophile Courtney, French. So when Salomé invites Courtney to her mother’s town in northwestern France, Courtney doesn’t even have to think about it.

But things are, almost immediately, a little odd. Despite feeling right at home with Salomé, Courtney is confronted by a house outfitted with cameras and the dark, watchful presence of Salomé’s mother. Courtney senses she should leave, but with Salomé she feels as if she’s rediscovered the "French Courtney," an alternate version of herself who made a life in France.

That is, until she starts to experience paralyzing nightmares in which strange voices intone Don’t open your eyes . . . and encounters Salomé’s charismatic stepfather, Marco, whose pyramid-scheme vitamin company offers a tempting segue into an even more insidious group obsessed with eternal life. Or is it an actual cult? And how much does Salomé really know? As a conspiracy unfurls, Courtney is torn between her loyalty to Salomé and what might be the story of a lifetime, the kind that could make a journalist’s career—if it doesn’t kill her first.

A modern reclamation of one of the Bible’s most dangerous women whose story, until now, has been almost exclusively told by men, Salomé is a tantalizing, feminist tale exploring power, loyalty, connection, and the measures we’ll take to harness our deepest desires.