Tillinghast

"A vampire (don't say that word) novel like no other." --Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts

"Wonderfully mysterious and gorgeously written...a boldly original take on what it means to be a monster." --Monika Kim, Sunday Times Bestselling Author of The Eyes Are the Best Part

A dark and utterly original literary horror debut, following a priest whose bloodthirsty life has extended far longer than any mere human's--and is upended when a stranger comes to town

Stutley Tillinghast lives a solitary life, ostensibly as the minister of a remote rural parish in Rhode Island. For many decades now, what little human contact he's allowed himself has been brief, frenzied and bloody, and has always ended in a shallow grave in his cellar. There's a name for what he is, but he prefers not to use it: it is simple enough that he has his needs, and that when they become unbearable, he fulfils them. In his long and lonely life, he has met only one other like him--the woman he still yearns for, the one who made him what he is.

Then a girl arrives, searching for him. She has his last name, and bears an uncanny resemblance to that woman, awakening memories Tillinghast had long suppressed; the connection he feels for her is immediate and overwhelming. She's also sick, very sick, with symptoms Tillinghast recognizes all too well...and only he knows how to cure her.

Inspired by the real events of the New England vampire panic of the nineteenth century, TILLINGHAST is a novel to sink your teeth into: at once a gripping, atmospheric horror that turns the classic monster narrative on its head; a literary work of exceptional prose about giving into--or resisting--our impulses; and a remarkably moving father-daughter story that will leave you unexpectedly hopeful--and rooting, despite your every instinct, for the killers.

Author: Clare Cavenagh
Publisher: Viking
Published: 06/23/2026
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.76lbs
Size: 8.57h x 5.74w x 0.97d
ISBN: 9798217060825


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/20/2026
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2026

About the Author
Clare Cavenagh spent her childhood in Erica, Australia, and her adolescence in Fribourg, Switzerland. She read English and Renaissance literature at the University of Cambridge, and now lives in London where she works as a copywriter. Her short fiction and criticism have been published in Editions L'Hèbe, Cambridge Quarterly and Eucalyptus Lit. Tillinghast is her first novel.