Umbra

Published in 2020
370 pages

epub


Yana Barbelo is a Russian-American writer, illustrator, psychiatrist. She is fascinated with fringes, edges, brinks, and all manner of liminality. She writes Literary Horror/Weird fiction, which explores the darkest contradictions of human nature.

What is this book about?
Ohno Hoia is a custodian of a mysterious collection of seeds and a lonely soul tormented by her hideous, malignant shadow. What world did she come from? What century? She can’t remember. She is a stranger to herself, a God’s mistake.

Driven by the desperate wish to break free from the shadow and save the seeds, Ohno arrives at present-day California’s desecrated shores. There she plants a garden the likes of which had not been seen since the days of Eden. While the garden’s extraordinary power shocks humanity out of despair and transforms the land, Ohno’s shadow grows fiercer and soon begins to threaten everything she holds dear. Now Ohno has no choice but to follow her tormentor as it takes her into the surreal, terrifying wilderness of her own soul – The Forest of Everlasting Night.

There she must meet the demons of her own making and ask the question she is dreading most: Who am I?

A spellbinding blend of horror and satire perfect for fans of Clive Barker, “Midian Unmade,” Haruki Murakami, Angela Carter, Neil Gaiman.