Eating the Cheshire Cat

The debut novel from the author of Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge, a fast-paced and unforgettable reinvention of Southern gothic set in Alabama.

In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, beauty is as beauty does, with axes and knives and killer smiles.

Sarina Summers and her mother will stop at nothing to have it all. Nicole Hicks harbors a fierce obsession with Sarina, which repeatedly undermines Mrs. Hicks’s ambitious goals. Bitty Jack Carlson, a nice girl from the wrong side of the tracks, is caught in the crossfire but struggles to succeed outside the confines of this outrageous yet eerily familiar Southern community. It’s survival of the fittest. Which girl will come out on top?

Eating the Cheshire Cat lures readers into a world of perfectly planned parties and steep social ladders, where traditional rites of passage take unpredictable and horrifying turns as the dreams of three girls and their overbearing mothers collide. Traipsing from summer camp to the University of Alabama’s Homecoming game, this fast-paced and unforgettable novel will keep readers guessing until the bitter end.

Helen Ellis was raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and holds a master’s degree in fiction writing from New York University. Her stories have been published in ＂Southern Exposure＂ and ＂The New York Press.＂ She lives in New York City.