The Stain

Synopsis

Born with a dark, fur-covered birthmark in the shape of a dancing hare, young Charlotte is branded from birth as cursed. Growing up in a remote village in the Loire Valley during the late nineteenth century, she becomes the object of fear, fascination, and superstition as priests, nuns, butchers, and would-be saints attempt to define her fate. Yet Charlotte's story refuses to follow the familiar path of victimhood. Instead, it unfolds as a lush, darkly comic fable where beauty and brutality, innocence and corruption, myth and reality exist side by side.

Originally published in 1984, The Stain announced Rikki Ducornet as one of the most daring and imaginative voices in American fiction. Rich with Gothic atmosphere, fairy tale, eroticism, and surreal invention, the novel explores power, desire, religion, and the tyranny of social convention through language that is as intoxicating as it is unforgettable. Strange, provocative, and brilliantly original, it remains a modern cult classic.

About the Author

Rikki Ducornet is an American novelist, poet, and visual artist celebrated for her imaginative, genre-defying fiction. The author of numerous acclaimed books, including The Fountains of Neptune, Phosphor in Dreamland, and Gazelle, she has received the Bard College Arts & Letters Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction. Her work blends myth, history, surrealism, and philosophical inquiry with extraordinary linguistic brilliance.

Publisher

Dalkey Archive Press

Publication Date

February 4, 2025

Format

Paperback

Pages

226

Subjects

Literary Fiction · Gothic Fiction · Surrealism · Historical Fiction · Feminist Fiction · Modern Classics

ISBN

9781628975659