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The Lamb by Lucy Rose: A Review



'She carried something terrible with her. She kept her grief subdued and quiet – so much so, it had begun to rot.'


Margot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember. When Margot is not at school they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door—"strays," Mama calls them, people who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she picks apart their bodies and toasts them off with some vegetable oil.


The Lamb by Lucy Rose is a refreshing take on the folk horror genre. Exploring themes of femininity, isolation, primal desires and coming-of-age in a living, breathing, nightmare.

This claustrophobic book really delves into femininity at its most primal, its most animalistic. It toys with the notion of women being the hunter - gorging herself on her desires, and not letting anyone get in the way of that. Rose writes of disgusting and manipulative women but keeps their humanity at the forefront. With our three main characters each being their own individual twist on this narrative, the reader is left feeling a spectrum of emotions. Empathetic, yet repulsed. Heartbroken, yet awaiting their downfall. The use of cannibalism in the narrative hails as a device for exploring the notion of autonomy from a feminist perspective. In a patriarchal world where so often a woman, wherever she exists in the world, has to battle with external forces trying to control her autonomy - The Lamb is a complete subversion of that. What is a woman at her most hungry? What would it look like if a woman was to satisfy every craving she had? If she used her femininity to get exactly what she wants, however depraved it may be? Upon reading Lucy Rose's interview with NB Magazine, it was really interesting to see what about this notion inspired her to write it into the plot;

'Girls who want things are “greedy” and “nasty.” They’re not ambitious, they’re not creative, they’re just nasty, greedy little things and I just really wanted to explore this idea of women wanting things, whether that’s a good lay or a nice meal or whatever, because society has such a problem with women wanting things, it doesn’t matter what it is that they want. That’s the thing that really piqued my curiosity.'

The use of nature throughout the prose was treated as if it were a character in itself. Just as complex, beautiful and strange as the humans in the story. The rural landscapes helped to exaggerate how gut-wrenchingly isolated our characters are, and just how naïve and alone our protagonist, Margot, is. How is a child supposed to know any different if the world she grew up in was a twisted, bloody nightmare?

I completely tore through The Lamb, its prose is sharp and bold with its plot being so full of dread that it was impossible to look away. Some part of me, as a fan of intensely descriptive writing, wished for even more detail weaved into the story - but as the book is written from 12 year-old Margot's perspective, its innocent and blunt writing style only catered towards the believability of the novel. I am stunned that this is Rose's debut, and I am eager to see what she crafts next.

4.5 stars

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