My Men

A spellbinding, darkly poetic literary novel that plunges us into the inner life of America’s first female serial killer

‘This fascinating, off-kilter novel about a female serial killer is an unexpectedly thrilling read’ Karl Ove Knausgaard

Seventeen-year-old Brynhild is in a fever - she can't quiet the screaming world inside her. Following the brutal end of an intense affair, she flees Norway for America to begin a new life as Bella. She tries to settle first with her sister and then with a husband, but the restless pulse of her desire and fear won't let her keep still. As Bella seeks refuge in a series of men, her yearning for an all-consuming love ruptures into violence.

In this breathtaking novel, Victoria Kielland imagines her way into the tumultuous inner life of the Norwegian woman who became Belle Gunness – America’s first known female serial killer. Written in prose of wild, visceral beauty, My Men is a radically empathetic and disquieting portrait of a woman capable of ecstatic love and gruesome cruelty.

Format/pages: hardback / 208 pages

ISBN: 9781782279273

Publisher: Pushkin Press

Year: 2023