A thrilling gothic debut • The untimely death of a student at a girls’ boarding school marks the first in a haunting series of escalating supernatural events, and uncovers buried truths of teenage repression, queer desire, and the everyday horror of coming of age. "A truly impeccable novel.” —Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea "This book destroyed me.” —Tamsyn Muir, author of Gideon the Ninth In 1928, Emily Locke's final year at the isolated Briarley School for Girls is derailed when Violet, the school's brightest star (and a cunning beauty for whom Emily would do anything), falls to her death on her eighteenth birthday. Emily and her buttoned-up rival Evelyn are, for once, in agreement: Violet’s death was no accident. There's an obvious culprit, the French schoolmistress with whom Violet was getting a little too close—they only need to prove it. Desperate for answers, Emily and her classmates turn to spiritualism, hoping for a glimpse of wisdom from the great beyond. To their shock, Violet’s spirit appears, choosing pious Evelyn as her unlikely medium. And Violet has a warning for them: the danger has just begun. Something deadly is infecting Briarley. It starts with rotten food and curdled milk, but quickly grows more threatening. As the body count rises and the students race to save themselves, Emily must confront the fatal forces poisoning the school. Emily's fight for survival forces her to reevaluate everything she knows: about Violet, Evelyn, Briarley, and, ultimately, herself. Avery Curran channels the indelible ambience and intrigue of the classic boarding school novel while turning the beloved genre on its head in this visceral, exuberant debut. A Book Riot Most Anticipated Book of 2026 "A compulsively readable twist on the old-fashioned school story." -- The Guardian "Read if any combination of the words 'yearning lesbian Gothic haunted-house body horror' gets you going" -- The Cut "Chilling . . . Brimming with spiritualism and sensuality, this neo-gothic story navigates the terrain between life and death, and between childhood and adulthood." -- The New Yorker “ Spoiled Milk is a dirty little jewel of a novel, as thrilling as it is unsettling, as moving as it is frequently horrifying. Curran writes with incredible precision on fear, desire and the insidiousness of authority and empire. A truly impeccable novel.” — Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea "A dread-inducing, vicious, horrifyingly entertaining ride through queer adolescence. This gothic debut novel is the stuff of nightmares and fantasies." -- Ms. " Spoiled Milk sinks its teeth in slowly, deeply and tightly. . . Lush, unsettling and oddly peaceful in its feral rhythms, Spoiled Milk lingers in the mind like something decadent that’s been left out too long." -- Seattle Times “ Spoiled Milk is a post-war fable about the death of Empire and a lesbian phantasmagoria, but it's also one of the most well-executed pieces of horror writing I've ever read. It is a terrifically nasty, loving, heretical, filthy look at the boarding school story; Avery Curran puts the entire genre in its grave and then invites the reader to view its exhumed corpse. This book destroyed me.” — Tamsyn Muir, Locus Award-winning author of Gideon the Ninth “Lush and haunting . . . a chilling tale of repressed passion, queer awakening, and the corrosive power of silence. It’s an impressive start." --Publishers Weekly "This lesbian phantasmagoria has everything: silk gloves, sour milk, clandestine visits to mystics, potentially evil yet sexy French teachers." --Electric Lit “Curran injects fresh blood into the traditionally rigid paradigms of English girlhood narratives. . . it feels strikingly like a conversation, perhaps even a confession, that resonates with the present. It is a refreshingly self-aware debut, built on a rich tradition of gothic cultural capital as well as history, and a must-read for boarding school fiction junkies.” --Reactor "An instant queer classic." --Dazed " Picnic at Hanging Rock vibes and cool girl sensibility. . . Eerie, atmospheric, and lyrically driven, Spoiled Milk may be the most intriguing gothic of the year." --CrimeReads “Seances, ectoplasm, soft and furious kisses, a love triangle with a ghost, all of it hurtling towards a hauntingly beautiful finale. Spoiled Milk is the book of my dreams and my nightmares.” —Maggie Thrash, Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and author of Honor Girl The haunted lesbian boarding school horror show we always wanted. From its dread-inducing opening to that breathtaking finale, Spoiled Milk is brimming with images that we’ll carry into way too many nightmares. Avery Curran is a witch.” — Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, authors of Feast While You Can “Dread crawls steadily and inexorably throughout the pages of this thrillingly creepy novel, culminating in an ending that is thoroughly unsettling and – as