The Child Cephalina is a sewn hardback of 261 pages, printed lithographically, with silk ribbon marker, head and tailbands, and

d/w.

 

Limited to 300 copies.

 

ISBN 978-1-912586-20-2

 

Hardback: £40.00 inc. free p&p

 

If you would like to receive your order by way of a tracked postal service please contact us directly at ray@tartaruspress.com

 

Ebook: £7.99

(Please note that the ebook will be sent manually, so there may be a short delay in receiving it.)

alternatively, buy ebook direct from Amazon UK and Amazon.com

The Child Cephalina

by

Rebecca Lloyd

 

Rebecca Lloyd’s superb Gothic novel  explores friendship, obsession and the uncanny in teeming mid-Victorian London. At its heart is a tale of human relationships threatened by an unknowable force.

 

From the very first, the child Cephalina brought conflict into the otherwise peaceful, if eccentric, household at number 12 Judd Street. Robert’s fascination with her was instant, but he could never decide if this eleven-year-old was innocent and lonely, or clever and manipulative. It worried him. His encounters with her were both enchanting and unnerving. All the while his devotion to her was growing, until in the end, nothing could save him from a fate he would never have believed could be his . . .

 

Much of Rebecca Lloyd’s work is in the literary horror and Gothic genres, including The Bellboy, a novella (Zagava 2018), and Seven Strange Stories, (Tartarus Press 2017). Her other story collections include Ragman and Other Family Curses, (Egaeus Press 2016), Mercy and Other Stories, (Tartarus Press 2014), and The View from Endless Street, (WiDo Publishing 2014). Recent literary awards in which she has been acknowledged include The World Fantasy Award, The Aestas Short Story Prize, and the Paul Bowles Short Fiction Award. Some of her stories have been reprinted in Best British Horror, (Salt Publishing), Best New Horror, (PS Publishing), and in recent volumes of Best Horror of the Year.

 

Podcast

Recommended listening--The Sherds Podcast #31 The Child Cephalina: An Interview with Rebecca Lloyd.

***

 

Reviews:

"[Lloyd] grounds her story in such rich and colorful period detail that events seem eerily believable when they take a turn for the macabre. Readers will race to this novel’s eerie conclusion." Publishers Weekly

"...an authentic and well-crafted piece of Gothic fiction, in turns as eerie and captivating as the child Cephalina herself." Laura Mauro, Black Static #74

"The Child Cephalina is a slow burn in the gothic style of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll & Hyde or Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey or Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. A perfect late night read." AUREALIS #129

"A wonderful supernatural novel." Des Lewis

"A  dark supernatural tale of friendship and obsession in Victorian London" ... "subtly unsettling and brilliantly written" (5/5 stars) Ringshadow.net

"Very, very highly recommended.  You will want to read this book.  Trust me.  It's unlike anything I've read before." Oddly Weird Fiction

 

A pdf of Chapter One is available to download for free here

 

Also available by Rebecca Lloyd:

Mercy and Other Stories

Seven Strange Stories