The Flame Alphabet, By Ben Marcus

A highly experimental writer, Marcus in this first new book in a decade takes a more conventional narrative turn.

We find ourselves in an alternative America where a mysterious epidemic has struck –one that causes children's speech to become so toxic that it literally ends up killing their parents.

Added to this, society has soured so much that Jews have been forced underground and must listen to sermons through a "Jew Hole".

Larded with creepy metaphors, the author's own wayward language destabilises the reader's sense of linguistic propriety.