{"product_id":"she-made-herself-a-monster-9780063436374","title":"She Made Herself a Monster","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Kovatcheva has woven a darkly mesmerizing tale of folklore, witchcraft, and monsters that will linger at the corners of your dreams long after you've finished reading. She Made Herself a Monster is the best kind of vampire story--one in which the real evil is us.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Peng Shepherd, author of All This and More and The Cartographers\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA heady, dark-hued Gothic gem of a debut novel: in nineteenth-century Bulgaria, a self-proclaimed vampire slayer--in truth, a traveling con artist--joins forces with a teenage girl to create a monster deadly enough to vanquish their own demons. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe make monsters in order to destroy them. For thousands of years, we've named witches and burned them, suspected demons and exorcised them. When crops die and children fall ill, who better to blame than a monster?\u003cbr\u003eYana rides from one desolate town to the next, staging grisly displays while the villagers sleep: animal corpses in the public square, eggs filled with blood in the chicken coop. She tells the stricken villagers stories of vampires that stalk the night. Then she eliminates the threat, and sows seeds of hope in her wake.\u003cbr\u003eThe village Koprivci is plagued by exceptional illness and misfortune, its children rarely surviving infancy. There, Yana meets Anka: a headstrong orphan who the villagers blame for their curse. As Anka approaches womanhood, the village Captain is grooming her for marriage against her will. Anka is powerless against him--that is, until Yana arrives. Together, the orphan and the vampire slayer hatch a plan: to conjure a monster so vile, it might provide cover for Anka to escape. But their plan quickly takes on a horrifying life of its own...\u003cbr\u003eInspired by Slavic folklore, \u003ci\u003eShe Made Herself a Monster\u003c\/i\u003e concocts a clever mix of witchery, ghost stories, heresy, and deception to spin a feminist fable about agency and the power of collective action. It is a haunting and astoundingly cathartic tale of two women who will stop at nothing to take control of their fate. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Anna Kovatcheva\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Mariner Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/10\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.90lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.22h x 6.38w x 0.74d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780063436374\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/05\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/12\/2025 pg. 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKovatcheva, Anna:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnna Kovatcheva\u003c\/strong\u003e was born in Bulgaria and now lives in Brooklyn. She holds an MFA in fiction from New York University. \u003cem\u003eShe Made Herself a Monster \u003c\/em\u003ewas completed while Anna was in residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her chapbook, \u003cem\u003eThe White Swallow\u003c\/em\u003e, was selected by Aimee Bender as the winner of the Gold Line Press Chapbook Competition; her short fiction has been anthologized in \u003cem\u003eBest American Nonrequired Reading\u003c\/em\u003e and has appeared in \u003cem\u003eThe Kenyon Review\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Iowa Review\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Anna Kovatcheva \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":47659144904861,"sku":"9780063436374","price":47.37,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_499723cb-7b6a-4d5f-aec2-be9df12108e3.jpg?v=1771351401","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/she-made-herself-a-monster-9780063436374","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}