One Yellow Eye - by Leigh Radford (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Having always preferred the company of microbes, Kesta has spent her life looking down the barrel of a microscope rather than cultivating personal relationships. But that changed when Kesta met Tim--her cheerleader, her best friend, her absolute everything. So, when he was one of the last people in London to be infected with a perplexing virus that left the city ravaged, Kesta went into triage mode. Though the government has rounded up and disposed of all the infected, Kesta is able to keep her husband (un)alive--and hidden--with resources from the hospital where she works. She spends her days reviewing biopsy slides and her evenings caring for him, but he's clearly declining"--

Book Synopsis

In this heart-wrenching and unique spin on the zombie mythos, a brilliant scientist desperately searches for a cure after a devastating epidemic while also hiding a monumental secret--her undead husband.

How far would you go to save your marriage? For British scientist Kesta Shelley, there is no limit.

Having always preferred the company of microbes, Kesta has spent her life looking down the barrel of a microscope rather than cultivating personal relationships. But that changed when Kesta met Tim--her cheerleader, her best friend, her absolute everything. So, when he was one of the last people in London to be infected with a perplexing virus that left the city ravaged, Kesta went into triage mode.

Though the government has rounded up and disposed of all the infected, Kesta is able to keep her husband (un)alive--and hidden--with resources from the hospital where she works. She spends her days reviewing biopsy slides and her evenings caring for him, but he's clearly declining. The sedatives aren't working like they used to, and his violent outbursts are becoming more frequent. As Kesta races against the clock, her colleagues start noticing changes in her behavior and appearance. She is withering away, self-medicating with alcohol, and has stopped attending her mandated ZARG (Zombie Apocalypse Recovery Group) meetings. Her care for Tim has spiraled into absolute obsession.

There are whispers of a top-secret lab working on a cure, and Kesta clings to the possibility of being recruited like a lifeline. But can she save her husband before he is discovered? Or worse...will they trigger another outbreak?

Review Quotes

"'Til death do us part takes on an obsessive new meaning in Leigh Radford's transportive, compulsive novel, One Yellow Eye." --Nick Cutter, national bestselling author of The Troop and The Queen

*"Kesta's single-minded focus and increasingly unhinged decisions create a mounting sense of dread and terror to riva any on-page bloodbath. Fans of Our Wives under the Sea (2022), by Julia Armfield, will be thrilled to get their hands on another beautifully written, horror-tinged exploration of love and grief, but the book will likely also be a good fit for readers who enjoyed Sarah Lyons Fleming's Until the End of the World (2013) or Lucy A. Snyder's Sister, Maiden, Monster (2023)." --Booklist, starred review

"Compulsively readable. A propulsive, page-turning descent into all that is lovely and grotesque about grief, obsession, and love." --Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

"A post-apocalyptic heartbreaker, dosed with high tension and threaded with the profound hope that love brings, One Yellow Eye is a new classic in the zombie pantheon." --Christina Henry, author of Alice and The House That Horror Built

"An equally charming and grim zombie novel about undying love. Every page simmers with exquisite dread. Original and smart and heartfelt, an unmissable debut that blends and transcends genre." --Rachel Harrison, USA Today bestselling author of So Thirsty and Black Sheep

"Haunting and human, Radford dives into both the scientific and emotional aftermath of this large-scale tragedy in ways not often discussed in horror literature." --Variety

"If you're in the mood to read a literary zombie novel (with an excellent cover), look no further than Leigh Radford's new book, One Yellow Eye." --Polygon

"You wouldn't expect a zombie novel to have so much to say about love. Radford's suspenseful One Yellow Eye is driven by various fears--the fear of a virus that could return to rip the world apart, the fear of a terrible wrongdoing being discovered--but in the end zombies take a backseat to the greatest horror of all: losing the one closest to our heart." --Mason Coile, author of William

"Zombie novels are as enduring as the undead themselves, and in One Yellow Eye Radford shapes the subgenre into something new and fresh . . . This is a zombie novel with new ideas . . . But what makes this novel shine is its emotional impact...The interesting science passages and reanimated corpses are just icing on the rotting cake." --New York Times Book Review

"Complex and utterly brilliant, One Yellow Eye had me in a chokehold from the first word to the last. Radford has created a genre all her own that is darkly comedic, gruesome, and compassionate--to say I absolutely loved this beautifully macabre story is an understatement." --Ashley Tate, bestselling author of Twenty Seven Minutes

About the Author

Leigh Radford trained as a broadcast journalist. She produced and presented arts and entertainment content and documentaries for British commercial radio, BBC Radio, The Times, and more. A former book publicist, she is a 2023 graduate of Faber Academy. She is currently developing content for film and television through her production company, Kenosha Kickers.