BUTCHER, Daisy (ed.)
Evil Roots. Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic

Strangling vines and meat-hungry flora fill this unruly garden of strange stories, selected for their significance as the seeds of the villainous (or perhaps just misunderstood) ‘killer plant’ in fiction, film and video games. Step within to marvel at Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s giant wistaria and H. G. Wells’ hungry orchid; hear the calls of the ethereal women of the wood and the frightful drone of the moaning lily, and do tread carefully around E. Nesbit’s wandering creepers… Every strain of vegetable threat (and one deadly fungus) can be found within this new collection, representing the very best tales from the undergrowth of Gothic fiction. [publisher's note]

Published by British Library, 2019
Literature / Essays