Cauchemar

A Sunburst Award nominee: “Unease haunts this southern gothic . . . An intense debut bolstered by a powerful sense of place” ( The Globe and Mail , Toronto). Gripping, fast-paced, gorgeously written, and with unforgettable characters, Cauchemar tells the story of twenty-year-old Hannah, who finds herself living alone on the edge of a Louisianan swamp after her adopted mother and protector dies. Hannah falls in love with Callum, an easy-going boat captain and part-time musician, but after her mysterious birth mother, outcast as a witch and rumored to commune with the dead, comes back into Hannah’s life, she must confront what she’s been hiding from—the deadly spirits that haunt the swamp, the dark secrets of her past, and the nascent gift she possesses. Like the nightmares that plague Hannah, Cauchemar lingers and haunts. “Grigorescu grabs readers with a sense of foreboding at the start and builds intense tension as she leads them into a haunting place where the lines between dream and reality, living and dead, blur and hypnotize.” — Publishers Weekly “Grigorescu applies just the right tonal touch to her macabre subject matter . . . The book is full of riveting prose about complex, fallible characters.” — Quill & Quire “What makes Cauchemar so effective—so ominous and creepy—lies in Grigorescu’s skill in setting a scene. There’s a convincing aura of melancholy and malevolence haunting Hannah’s world.” — Broken Pencil “A stolen moment of pure fantasy, elevated by the author’s mesmerizing brand of descriptive, evocative language . . . Cauchemar easily surpasses its rivals of Twilight and True Blood , due to the poetic quality of Grigorescu’s writing.” — Scene Magazine From the moment 20-year-old Hannah discovers the body of Mae, her adoptive mother, her life shifts into a spirit realm from which Mae had long tried to shield her. Their secluded house on the marsh has been about separation and safety -- separation from her birth mother, Christobelle, whose dealings with the dead are heavily feared and hated in town, and safety from those who would hurt Hannah based on the harm they believe Christobelle has done to their families. When Hannah meets Callum, a boat captain and musician, she finds a comfort and companionship that she sorely lacked, but as they grow closer and Hannah becomes pregnant, inexplicable events constantly occur around them Gripping, fast-paced, gorgeously written, and with unforgettable characters, Cauchemar tells the story of 20-year-old Hannah, who finds herself living alone on the edge of a Louisianan swamp after her adoptive mother and protector dies. Hannah falls in love with Callum, an easy-going boat captain and part-time musician, but after her mysterious birth mother, outcast as a witch and rumoured to commune with the dead, comes back into Hannah's life, she must confront what she's been hiding from -- the deadly spirits that haunt the swamp, the dark secrets of her past, and the nascent gift she possesses. Like the nightmares that plague Hannah, Cauchemar lingers and haunts. Cauchemar tells the story of 20-year-old Hannah, who finds herself living alone on the edge of a Louisiana swamp after her adoptive mother and protector dies. Hannah finds solace in Callum, an easy-going boat captain and part-time musician, but after her mysterious birth mother, an outcast rumored to commune with the dead, comes back into Hannah's life, she must confront what she's been hiding from --the deadly spirits that haunt the swamp, the dark secrets of her past, and the nascent gift she possesses.