A July 2022 Loan Stars and ABA Indie Next Pick
“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed.
In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family.
Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?
There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.
Praise for Just Like Home
"Delightfully creepy and heartbreakingly tragic, Just Like Home is equal parts raw terror of a dark childhood bedroom, creeping revelations of a true-crime podcast, and searing hurt of resentment within a family. It’s a must-read for all gothic horror fans."—Booklist, starred review
“Vera Crowder, the protagonist of this superior novel of psychological suspense from Gailey (The Echo Wife), returns to her childhood home, Crowder House, after 12 years to reunite with her dying mother, a fraught visit that reawakens dark memories. Suggestive prose enhances the twisty plot as Vera tries to better understand the killings her father was accused of. Minette Walters fans will be captivated.” —Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
A Top Ten LibraryReads Pick
I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.
It took me so long to hate him.
Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.
And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.
Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.
Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty
Praise for The Echo Wife
"A razor-sharp psychological thriller... Gailey's expertise with suspense and their success in presenting the reader with impossible choices about the ethics of cloning, biological programming and editing, and of Evelyn’s specific, difficult situation, will leave the reader thinking about the novel long after the final page."—Booklist, starred review
"For those familiar with Gailey's work, expect this one to offer familiar pleasures and some new surprises. And for those who aren't, well, get ready." —Entertainment Weekly
"Creepy, exhilarating science fiction... A series of dark reveals that leave both the characters and the audience reeling. Readers won't want to put this one down." —Publisher's Weekly
“It’s gross, and totally engrossing." —Wired
“If you loved Big Little Lies, but wished it was more like Westworld, then best-selling author Sarah Gailey’s latest novel might be the perfect 2021 read for you.” —BookRiot
“Leave it to Sarah Gailey to turn the simple pitch of “clone of wife is having an affair with real wife’s husband” into an incredible dissertation on gender, relationships, and selfhood...The Echo Wife is a tightly crafted, cerebral thriller with an intelligent narrator.”—Tor.com
“The Echo Wife” is a unique, thrilling adventure, with truly unexpected twists and turns the whole way through...Gailey has created an enjoyable, edge-of-your-seat tale that will keep readers on their toes."—Associated Press
"Cooked right, science fiction and murder mysteries taste great together, and Gailey layers those ingredients together with a chef's kiss." —NPR
Keeping your magic a secret is hard. Being in love with your best friend is harder.
Alexis has always been able to rely on two things: her best friends, and the magic powers they all share. Their secret is what brought them together, and their love for each other is unshakeable—even when that love is complicated. Complicated by problems like jealousy, or insecurity, or lust. Or love.
That unshakeable, complicated love is one of the only things that doesn't change on prom night.
When accidental magic goes sideways and a boy winds up dead, Alexis and her friends come together to try to right a terrible wrong. Their first attempt fails—and their second attempt fails even harder. Left with the remains of their failed spells and more consequences than anyone could have predicted, each of them must find a way to live with their part of the story.
Praise for When We Were Magic
Secret powers and secret murder cover-ups are in good supply in Sarah Gailey’s new YA novel When We Were Magic, but love and friendship are the real stars of the show. ― Tor.com
Profoundly thoughtful... An intimate portrait of female friendship laced with literal and metaphorical magic. ― Kirkus Reviews
Explores finding stability with friends and family in a world where everything else is a big question mark. ― Booklist
A laugh-out-loud, exciting ride... Like the movie The Craft for a new generation, this novel is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats wondering how it will all turn out. ― School Library Journal
Darkly funny. ― Publishers Weekly
A 2021 Hugo Award and Locus Award Finalist. Named a Best of 2020 pick for NPR, NYPL, Booklist, Bustle, Book Riot, and Den of Geek.
“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”
Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her―a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.
The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
Praise for Upright Women Wanted
"A dazzling neo-western adventure. . . . Gailey’s gorgeous writing and authentic characters make this slim volume a pure delight."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A breezy, rousing and unrelentingly fun gallop.” –NPR, Best Books of 2020
"A good old-fashioned horse opera for the 22nd century. Gunslinger librarians of the apocalypse are on a mission to spread public health, decency, and the revolution."―Charles Stross
A 2020 Locus Award Finalist for Best First Novel
Ivy Gamble was born without magic and never wanted it.
Ivy Gamble is perfectly happy with her life – or at least, she’s perfectly fine.
She doesn't in any way wish she was like Tabitha, her estranged, gifted twin sister.
Ivy Gamble is a liar.
When a gruesome murder is discovered at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, where her estranged twin sister teaches Theoretical Magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister―without losing herself.
Praise for Magic for Liars
"There’s something for almost all readers here....Gailey shows us that humans are humans, even when they are magic, and they are still flawed, damaged, and oh-so-interesting" ―Booklist (starred review)
"Clever and fast-paced...a wonderfully quirky mystery filled with inviting characters and gripping surprise twists." ―Publishers Weekly
"A poignant and bittersweet family tragedy disguised as a mystery but with a magic all its own." ―Kirkus
"Full of suspense and magic, with a protagonist as sharp and tart as a lemon, Sarah Gailey has written an unmissable debut." ―Adrienne Celt, author of Invitation to a Bonfire
“I loved Sarah Gailey's Magic for Liars…it broke my heart, and I longed for the world of this story anyway.” ―Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians
The Prophet is dead. The eyes of the Gods have turned to his daughter. But she isn't ready. Not for the whispers in her ear, for the divinations... for the blood. Her people's history and their future, carved by ancients into the bones of long dead behemoths, are now her burden. Only she can read them, interpret the instructions, and guide them to the Promised Land. Their journey is almost at an end, but now, without the Prophet, she must find a way to guide them to the place they will call Home. Through blood and through sand, against the will of her own flock, against the horrors that haunt the darkness, only she can bring her people Home. The Prophet is dead. Long live the Prophetess.
The Fisher of Bones is a story about faith, family, and hardship. The road is difficult, but "the journey is worth taking," Publisher's Weekly said.
From Fireside Fiction Company, October 2017
American Hippo collects River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow in a single, beautiful volume, and includes new short stories.
"Man-eating hippo mayhem is my new favorite mayhem. Gailey's debut is a gift of violent, unexpected glee and I can't wait for more capers with Winslow Houndstooth and Ruby the stealth hippo." ―Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author
From Tor.com Publishing, May 2018
A few months ago, Winslow Houndstooth put together the damnedest crew of outlaws, assassins, cons, and saboteurs on either side of the Harriet for a history-changing caper. Together they conspired to blow the dam that choked the Mississippi and funnel the hordes of feral hippos contained within downriver, to finally give America back its greatest waterway.
Songs are sung of their exploits, many with a haunting refrain: "And not a soul escaped alive."
In the aftermath of the Harriet catastrophe, that crew has scattered to the winds. Some hunt the missing lovers they refuse to believe have died. Others band together to protect a precious infant and a peaceful future. All of them struggle with who they've become after a long life of theft, murder, deception, and general disinterest in the strictures of the law.
Publisher's Weekly called Taste of Marrow a "delightful second novella of mishaps and mayhem."
From Tor.com Publishing, September 2017
A Finalist for the 2017 Nebula Award and for the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella
In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true.
Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.
This was a terrible plan.
Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.
"This hippopotamus epic is just as preposterously fun as you could possibly have hoped ― but it's also a brave, clever alternate history. River of Teeth packs one hell of a gold-plated bite." ―Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky
From Tor.com Publishing, May 2017