Predatory Natures - by Amy Goldsmith (Paperback)

About the Book

Lara's dream job aboard a luxury train takes a strange turn when she discovers the mysterious botanical cargo in the caboose.

Book Synopsis

A teen girl's dream job aboard a luxury train derails when she discovers the strange cargo being transported--a mysterious and beautiful greenhouse--but its flowering façade may hide deadly thorns beneath, in this atmospheric and lush novel from the author of Those We Drown.

When Lara Williams gets a summer job aboard the luxury train the Banebury, she thinks she's landed a five-star escape from her past. Even after she learns that her ex-friend Rhys, who she definitely did not have feelings for before their relationship imploded, is one of her coworkers, she's determined to make things work.

But on the first day of their journey, the trip takes a strange turn. Two mysterious carriages filled with an array of beautiful and rare plants are attached to the Banebury in the middle of the night.

And with them comes a pair of siblings. Wealthy, mysterious, and charismatic, Gwen and Gwydion claim the plants they're transporting are for research, but Lara can't shake the feeling that there's something . . . otherworldly about the strange blooms. Something that will stop at nothing to ensure the Banebury never reaches its destination.

Soon Lara will learn: You can't outrun your troubles. You have to grab them by their roots. And if she can't unearth the secrets of the Banebury, they might drag her down for good. . . .

Review Quotes

★ "Goldsmith deftly braids folklore, supernatural horror, and romantic suspense into a layered novel that confronts emotional abuse." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"This engaging, well-paced novel explores horrors both supernatural and very much of this world. Dark, page-turning, folkloric horror." --Kirkus Reviews

"Goldsmith cultivates a fierce, frightening fantasy....Predatory Natures grafts itself into the flourishing genre of botanical horror, joining the ranks of Krystal Sutherland's House of Hollow (2021) and Andrea Hannah's Where Darkness Blooms (2023)." --Booklist

"A ­solid work of atmospheric botanical ­horror." --School Library Journal

About the Author

Amy Goldsmith grew up on the south coast of England, obsessed with obscure 70s horror movies and antiquarian ghost stories. She studied Psychology at the University of Sussex and, after gaining her Postgraduate Certificate in Education, moved to inner London to teach. Now, she lives back on the south coast where she still teaches English and spends her weekends trawling antiques shops for haunted mirrors. She is the author of Those We Drown, Our Wicked Histories and Predatory Natures.