Milk, Bread, Teeth

by Amy Twigg

Milk, Bread, Teeth, Amy Twigg's electrifying new novel, is a work of literary body horror in the vein of Nightbitch and Milk Fed, with the dark social critique of The Substance.

Lena's body is no longer her own. It is occupied by a growing appetite, a hunger that demands to be fed. From inside her luxury apartment, Lena tries to appease it by gorging herself, day and night. Whole loaves of bread, protein shakes--tins of cat food if all else fails.

When Joan, an actress on the cusp of stardom, moves into the apartment above, Lena is quick to make friends. She soon finds herself in Joan's orbit, enjoying the trappings of wealth and privilege, the kind she has always pined for. But with the hunger demanding more and more, Lena's carefully constructed image of herself starts to unravel. And as her appetite veers into the inedible, she must fight to remember who she is.

Milk, Bread, Teeth is an unflinching exploration of dissatisfaction and disparity, a deliciously grim and transgressive tale that draws the reader into a frenzy of insatiable desire and consumption. It's a propulsive, eerie novel inspired by Amy's experiences with chronic illness and her place in publishing as a working-class woman.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Adult, Horror Thriller, Literary Fiction, Lesbian

250 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication January 19, 2027

About the author

Amy Twigg is a writer, born and raised in Kent. Her debut novel Spoilt Creatures won the BPA Pitch Prize and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition. It was acquired by Tinder Press as one of their lead fiction titles, due to be published in June 2024.

In 2024 she was chosen as one of the Observer's Best New Novelists.

Amy lives in Surrey, England.

Reviews

[Sidney · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

originally i was leaning more towards a 3.5/3.75 but now that i've had time to digest Milk, Bread, Teeth *ba dum tss*, i'm leaning more 3.25/3.5 so i'm rounding down for gr.

first of all, that ending? sooo satisfying & unhinged, which automatically bumped the rating of this up a bit. however, the longer i sit & think about the book as a whole, the more i realize it kind of did nothing for me. it's not a bad book, but i never really felt any excitement from it either? i honestly just needed MORE!

i think overall Milk, Bread, Teeth is well written & i never found myself struggling with the pacing, which is always a plus. if you're anything like me & love an unhinged, unlikable, or unreliable mc, you'll be happy to meet Lena who is all of those things.

i like the themes this touches on... medical misogyny, overconsumption, dissatisfaction & what we'd do to fit in, to name a few.

my biggest complaint is probably this being marketed as horror. in my humble opinion, this read more like weird girl lit fic with some horror elements here & there, which is fine! i do enjoy a good weird girl fic when i'm in the mood for it BUT because this is mainly being marketed as horror, i expected the horror elements to be a main focus vs. an afterthought.

i've seen a few people talk about the body horror this has to offer & if i'm being honest, i found it pretty boring for my personal taste. i recognize this is more than likely a me thing because i do consume A LOT of horror media, with body horror being a favorite trope/subgenre, so take that as you will. i think Amy Twigg could have really gone there considering what the story is about, but i understand heavy body horror/gore is not everyone's cup of tea.

i will say there was one part in particular (the cat scene) that had me say, "oh, well surely that can't be good for Lena," that did scratch that itch of wanting more, but i don't really think it had a purpose other than being included for shock value? like, we didn't really need to go there to get the point across, if that makes sense.

i would have liked more depth when it came to the side characters. most of them felt flat, specifically Angie, like girl, what is your problem? i can't lie, i was seriously rooting for Angie to be eaten, i'm sorry. i heard cannibalism & thought that was exactly where the book was going.
i think we could have spent more time touching on Caroline as a mom too

even though this didn't go in the direction i was hoping for, i will say it again: that ending was so satisfying, so i can't say i have any complaints there.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review

[Sandy ❦✶⁺⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow this book was honestly disturbing (in the best way).

This is the horror at its best where the author does not rely on crazy twists or paranormal/unexplainable forces to put fear into the audience, but slowly most discomfort and dread until your skin is genuinely crawling.

This was hoenstly incredibly effective - I felt a guilty pleasure coming back to this book because I felt as though I was humouring this sick fascinating. It's the kind of sick guilty feeling one gets when you can't look away from a car crash.

The premise and protagonist were unique and whilst they were by no means likeable you were rooting for them to make the one decision that would actually help them; or finally go over the edge to something there was no coming back from.

Honestly, I did not see the ending - I'm sure I and many readers will have had the same ending in mind so I think it's remarkebly clever to take it in this other unexpected direction.

I would really recommend this if you're into horror - especially the kind that makes your skin crawl as opposed to make you check if your doors are locked - but please look up trigger warnings! I can only imagine there are a lot to cover.

[Stay · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The thing about loneliness isn’t so much about being alone but the endless possibilities it creates."

Okay, so I went into this completely blind. I knew that it was horror and that the end was insane, so that’s really all I needed to hear. I never needed to know anything else.

What we have here is something that made me sick to my stomach and put my anxiety at an all time high. I was on edge through the entirety of this book. Plus that end was one of the most unhinged things that I’ve ever read. I just wish the in-between was a lot better.

Now, this was very well written and the author knew how to add intensity to scenes that you didn’t know needed it. Parts were pure insanity, while others were typical everyday scenarios. Combined made this one crazy story where I never want to make friends ever again nor will I let anyone near my pets every again. I'm sick just thinking about certain things. Ugh!

'Milk, Bread, Teeth' was f**king WILD!!! If you can stomach this then go for it! Most of it was worth it. Otherwise, pop a xanax and chill.

I think this book has ruined me…

[Dustin · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

It's not often a book leaves me speechless, but I'm sitting here after just finishing this and all I can think is, "What the hell did I just read?"

I feel like this book has left me coated in a layer of filth and I need to go take a scalding shower, and I mean that in the most positive and complimentary way possible. Milk, Bread, Teeth is exactly what I want from horror fiction, which isn't necessarily scares or spookiness, but an absolutely oppressive sense of discomfort, disgust, and unease that's still somehow deeply relatable and human. It constantly had me wanting to crawl out of my own skin.

I'm not going to tell you anything that happens in the book, because I honestly think the less you know about this going in, the better it'll be for you. I'd even say to skip reading the synopsis and just go right in if you're looking for some freaky and gross horror. However, I will warn those of you that're squeamish to buckle up, because you're gonna be in for a wild ride.

Definitely going to be keeping an eye out (pun intended) for more of Amy Twigg's work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the review copy!

[Laura Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Review of an ARC. Thank you so much to Headline for sending me a copy.

Currently kicking my feet and giggling with glee at the body horror in this book. Amy really went there… and I’m thrilled. A book where the intrusive thoughts win.

Stunning writing and character work. Reflects so deeply the rage inducing experience of medical misogyny and trying to regain control over a body you feel detached from. This was everything that I wanted it to be and more. Amy has just catapulted herself to the top spot of literary, body horror queen.

[cor ⏾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: Body Horror - This book was unhinged and VERY disturbing, but in the best ways. Lena is not the best person but you find yourself relating to her and her inner dialogue at times. The build up is a bit slow, but it makes more sense for the plot versus starting off too strong. You might think this book is just unsettling and weird, but I like that it shines a line on everyday problems we all face, like medical misogyny and trying to fit in, while also feeding the weird girl horror aspect! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

[thebookybird · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Ya girl was hungry

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review of advanced copy received from NetGalley

Amy Twigg’s debut novel, Spoilt Creatures, was one of my favourite reads of 2025 so I was really looking forward to reading this one. Unfortunately, I found Milk, Bread, Teeth to be disappointing. Lena’s character is a blank slate with no defining features. Whilst you could make the argument that it’s quite fitting that she fades into the background and is dominated by her hunger, her desire and want is similarly weak. There’s no clear motivation for her escalating hunger, with any parallels with obsession feeling underdeveloped. As someone who reads quite a bit of horror, particularly body horror, I found the build and crescendo of Lena’s consumption to be predictable rather than shocking or thought provoking. It doesn’t help that the narrative arc is given away by the title. There were a few moments of Lena losing control that could have been interesting if they had been followed through on, but sadly they were quickly dropped.

Ultimately, this just read as an increasingly bizarre shopping list rather than a solid exploration of women’s desires, needs, and obsessions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the opportunity to read and honestly review this ARC.

[Sarah Marston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Headline Books for an ARC of this book.

It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted or squeamish. It’s one of the weirdest, most stomach-churning books I’ve read for a very long time.

Lena knows there is something wrong with her. She is consumed by hunger, and her appetite grows throughout the story as she gradually loses control of her life, her emerging friendships and her job. She eats anything and everything, including things that really shouldn’t be eaten. As the story develops, Lena’s loneliness and loss of control become more apparent, and her hunger intensifies.

The shock factor builds along with Lena’s appetite, and there are some seriously stomach-churning moments. Key themes are chronic illness, medical misogyny, loss of control and abandonment.

This is a fast-paced, well-written and very graphic book. If I’d been watching this story on TV, I’d probably have had my hand over my eyes!

[Elisa]

well that was disturbing only read if you don’t mind cannibalism, I do

[whatzoreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A doctor dismissed her symptoms. Her symptoms ate her.

That was the thought that had me throwing up, crying, throwing up after finishing Milk, Bread, Teeth by Amy Twigg, a darkly funny, deeply uncomfortable novel about chronic illness, medical misogyny, class, and what happens when you know something is wrong with you but you don’t know how to make someone else understand it.

Lena knows something isn’t right. She seeks medical help. She asks questions. She pushes for something to be done. She wants things to change. But Lena doesn’t tell the doctor about the inexplicable hunger taking over her life.

That detail was the real kicker because Lena isn’t withholding because she doesn’t want help. She withholds because she does. She knows how it will sound. Somehow Lena has already learned the rules of credibility. Tell them something is wrong but do not say anything that sounds like you’ve entered your delusion era. And it’s complicated because Lena is not the most reliable person.

She’s financially dependent but pretends she isn’t. She’s quiet quitting her job so hard. Maxxing out her sister’s boyfriend’s plastic. She lies, performs, makes terrible decisions. When she falls into the orbit of her new upstairs neighbour, the actress Joan, Lena attempts to construct a version of herself that can belong in Joan’s world, but in her anxiety of being perceived by Joan’s friends, she becomes more chaotic and honestly infuriating. But being unreliable about your life doesn’t make you an unreliable witness to what’s happening to your own body. She consistently tells the truth about one thing: something is wrong with me.

She doesn’t know what it is. Neither do we.

For the record, her BMI is in the healthy range.

I love that the author resists giving us that clean distinction between physical illness and psychological distress because you can be wrong about what’s wrong with you and still be right that something is wrong.

And then what do you know, her body starts dropping receipts.

Her need to feed expeditiously grows increasingly extreme and almost impossible to reconcile with ordinary appetite. She crosses boundaries. The receipts start piling up, but the paradox at the centre of it all is that the more receipts that show something is wrong, the less Lena resembles the kind of patient whose account is likely to be trusted.

I think this is where Milk, Bread, Teeth really stands on business. The author doesn’t give us the perfect patient. Lena is messy. She withholds information. Her anxiety complicates medical encounters. Her behaviour becomes increasingly difficult to understand. But the novel asks us to take her suffering seriously without first requiring Lena to become a more credible patient.

And underneath all of this is class. While her body is getting crazy intense to control, she’s also trying to control the version of herself other people see. Her relationship with Joan turns Lena’s consumption social and aspirational as well as physical. She wants food. She wants things. She wants access. She wants another kind of life.

That’s the trap at the centre of this book.

She wants change, and the symptom she most needs help understanding is the one she feels least able to articulate because she knows that telling the whole truth might make her less believable, easier to dismiss.

Milk, Bread, Teeth is a darkly funny, uncomfortable, disturbing read with increasingly feral body horror. And underneath all the consumption, I found a nuanced exploration of illness and credibility that hit a little too close to home.

Lena knows something is wrong. She knows better than to tell them how wrong.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Books for sending me an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

It ate. No crumbs.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

★★★★★

Oh, this was absolutely extraordinary. I read Milk, Bread, Teeth in two sittings and genuinely couldn’t get enough of it. I was completely consumed by this book.

Amy Twigg has one of the most exciting and original voices I’ve read in ages. Her prose is just DELICIOUS. On a sentence-by-sentence level, the writing is so inventive, precise and completely unpredictable. You never quite know where the next sentence is going to take you, and I was constantly stopping to admire a particular turn of phrase or wondering how on earth she’d thought to describe something in that way. It’s rare to find writing that feels this distinctive without ever becoming exhausting or overly self-conscious. I would honestly read anything she wrote.

And the story itself is absolutely VILE, in the best possible way. It’s disturbing, uncomfortable and at times completely grotesque, but I found it utterly irresistible. Even when I was horrified by what I was reading, I desperately wanted more.

But underneath all that grotesqueness, I thought there was something genuinely moving about the novel’s exploration of chronic illness. Lena’s insatiable hunger feels like such a brilliant, horrifying allegory for living in a body that no longer feels like your own. The desperation of knowing something is wrong, of being unable to explain what’s happening to you, and of having your suffering dismissed or misunderstood felt painfully recognisable. I loved that Twigg doesn’t give us a neat distinction between physical illness and psychological distress, or a perfectly sympathetic character whose suffering is easy for everyone to understand. Lena is messy, frustrating and increasingly difficult to defend, but that doesn’t make what she’s experiencing any less real.

I also thought there was something fascinating about how her physical hunger becomes tangled up with all the other things she’s starving for: love, friendship, belonging, status, a different life. She’s constantly trying to fill some enormous absence, whether that’s through food, other people or the version of herself she wants the world to see. And the more she consumes, the less satisfied she becomes. It’s such a clever way of exploring loneliness, class and the impossible expectations we place on our bodies and ourselves.

What impressed me most was how perfectly the writing and the subject matter complemented each other. The prose can be beautiful one moment and deeply repulsive the next, sometimes within the same sentence. Twigg has this incredible ability to make something horrifying feel almost seductive, and something seemingly ordinary feel profoundly wrong. It’s such an intoxicating reading experience.

And THAT ENDING. I genuinely don’t know what to say without spoiling anything, except that I was completely floored. It’s the kind of ending that makes you want to immediately find somebody else who’s read it so you can talk about what on earth you’ve just experienced. I finished feeling slightly stunned and very aware that this book was going to stay with me for a long time.

I love books that take risks, trust their readers and aren’t afraid to make us uncomfortable. This does all three, while also being ridiculously entertaining. It’s grotesque, captivating, brilliantly written and far more emotionally intelligent than its increasingly outrageous premise might initially suggest.

An absolute must-read. I feel like I’ve been through something, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. A very enthusiastic five stars.

[Alicia Ceasar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Milk, Bread, Teeth by Amy Twigg follows Lena, a woman who wakes up one day with an insatiable appetite. This hunger occupies most of her waking thoughts and this novel follows her dealing with that on top of living her life.

I loved this book. It was everything I wanted in a weird girl horror novel. Lena is a flawed character who makes terrible decisions but it is easy to see why she does what she does. The hunger she deals with seems to be a metaphor for invisible illness and how that can dominate every aspect of your life. Reading about Lena's struggles to feel satisfied after eating and trying to eat different things felt like how a lot of people that deal with chronic illnesses live their lives.

This is a book that is best to go in knowing very little but just be aware that it gets kind of gross. Not just the things that Lena tries to eat but the way it is written. After finishing this book, I actually felt nauseous which does not happen to be often as a seasoned horror reader.

I can see some readers picking this book up and thinking there isn't a lot of plot and I would agree. There are not a lot of action packed scenes but I think that was the author's intent. We are just watching Lena live her day to day life while having this immense hunger and I felt like as a reader, I felt how difficult that was for her.

This is one of the best books I have read this year and one that will stick with me for a long time. I think if this book finds the right audience, it is going to be a very buzzy book! I look forward to yapping about this book for the next several weeks before it releases and I am already planning on reading this author's previous novel as soon as I can get my hands on it. It is not often that I read one book by an author and consider them to be a favorite but I would definitely consider Amy Twigg a new favorite author to me!

[Chelsea Knowles]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Milk, Bread, Teeth follows Lena as she develops an urge to consume. She is constantly hungry and never sated. Lena is lucky enough to live in a luxury apartment and she gets up eating all day and night. The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with her and she’s even gone to drastic lengths to fulfil her hunger such as eating wet pet food. Lena makes friends with a woman called Joan when she moves into the apartment above. Joan is everything Lena wants to be but being surrounded by privilege doesn’t help when Lena’s hunger grows. Lena’s life starts to unravel and she must go to extreme lengths to fulfil her hunger and discover who she truly is.

To be completely honest, I just don’t get this book. I wanted to read this as I thought it might be similar to The Lamb by Lucy Rose which I loved but this just didn’t work for me. I never connected to Lena and everything felt very surface level. I never understood why Lena was so hungry. This book just doesn’t feel new, the themes have been done before in books a lot better than this and it feels like the author is trying to say something but never quite gets there. I was bored with this and whilst I tend to enjoy books that involve consumption, this was a bit too disgusting for me. Without giving away spoilers, I don’t want to read about someone eating pet food or body parts. This just left me feeling nothing and I’m sad about that because this had a lot of promise. I don’t want to be completely negative though as this will work for some people so I will still recommend this. This is written well and Lena has a complicated relationship with her mother which was interesting to explore.

[♡ A ♡ · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

Milk, Bread, Teeth follows Lena as she suddenly has an appetite she can’t control. When Joan, an actress, moves into the apartment above hers, Lena becomes obsessed. As her ravenous hunger demands more, Lena starts to unravel.

This was an interesting book. I kind of have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, I really enjoyed the horror elements. It was gore-y and gross—especially the end. The ending was intense in a good way, but not surprising. I was mostly engaged while reading, but I did find myself wanting more horror elements. There is a lot of Lena eating and going through the motions. I think I wanted more of an explanation. And maybe it just went over my head. But I wanted more concrete reasonings and motivations.

I do think the author is very good at description and creating a very tense and unnerving environment. Lena did feel like a loose canon. I was very curious to see what she’d do when interacting with people—especially in the third act. The dynamic with Angie was well done. I would definitely read more from this author, I think this one just wasn’t what I wanted.
If you love horror or weird girl lit fit, definitely give this a try!

Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the arc

[jade ⋆𖦹.⋆｡˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milk, Bread, Tooth definitely fits in the weird girl category. It follows Lena’s insatiable hunger and growing fixation on her neighbor Joan spiral into a disturbing exploration of desire, obsession, and something far more grotesque.

This was a disgustingly good novel in every sense of the word. Amy Twigg had me feeling uneasy throughout, constantly on edge as Lena’s hunger spiraled into something increasingly horrifying.

I’m almost embarrassed by the portions of Lena’s inner thoughts and experiences that I found myself relating to, which made the reading experience all the more uncomfortable in the best way.

And that ending? Easily one of my favorite parts of the entire book. Twigg absolutely commits to the grotesque, delivering an intense, stomach-turning finale that left me reeling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Nat thecaninelibrary · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

I genuinely struggled with how to rate this one.

It almost felt like I shouldn’t be reading it, like I’d accidentally picked up someone’s most private thoughts from their diary. There was something so intimate and uncomfortable about it that made me feel like I was intruding the whole time.

It was gruesome and gross in places, unsettling throughout and genuinely horrifying towards the end, but underneath all of that was this really deep sadness that I wasn’t expecting.

The medical misogyny also absolutely infuriated me. She was clearly vulnerable and unwell, yet so much of what she was experiencing was brushed off and dismissed, which made some parts even more uncomfortable to read.

Not an easy read by any means, but definitely one that got under my skin, I couldn’t look away or put it down!

[OutlawPoet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw that another reviewer described this as more weird girl than horror. I agree with that, though it isn't my main issue with the book.

There's no story here.

Seriously, there's no plot. Lena gets hungry. She eats a lot. She eats a lot more. Her weirdness starts to cause her relationships to go wonky. She eats a lot more. The ending scene is terrific, but it's just that...a scene in what is mostly a vignette.

Lena's weirdness bugs me a bit as well. I love weird girl books, but we are starting to get so many intentional weird girls that it starts looking performative. Lena tripped the line from 'weird girl' to 'not like other girls' and I didn't love her.

It's a compulsive read - and one that will have you losing your appetite - but it definitely seems like a small window into a mental breakdown with no actual plot.

Not really for me.

[Jess Parker · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

Huge thanks to Headline and Hachette for this proof copy of Milk, Bread, Teeth!

Probably suited more to a rainy autumnal day in than the 30° beech that I chose, Milk, Bread, Teeth is a reflective and engaging piece of weird-girl-lit that turns stranger and stranger with each page.

Relevant, overwhelming, and rather stomach turning, Milk, Bread, Teeth is definitely worth keeping on your radar for its release in January 2027!

[Nikki Reads · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Milk, Bread, Teeth hooked me from the very beginning and never loosened its grip. There wasn’t a single point where I felt the story drag or my attention wander; instead, it has this steadily escalating sense of unease that makes you want to keep reading even as everything becomes increasingly uncomfortable, grotesque, and bleak.

What struck me most, though, was the loneliness at the center of the story. Lena is someone who seems almost starved for connection. Growing up with an unstable mother and an absent father has left her deeply lonely and codependent, constantly searching for something, or someone, to fill the space inside her. That made her insatiable hunger feel like so much more than body horror. The more I read, the more it felt like a physical manifestation of her emotional emptiness: she consumes and consumes because nothing ever feels substantial enough to satisfy her.

And I loved how far Amy Twigg was willing to take that metaphor. Lena doesn't simply want food; she wants closeness, stability, belonging, validation, and a life that feels fuller than her own. There is something deeply sad beneath all of the grotesqueness because no matter how much she consumes, the emptiness remains. Her hunger becomes almost indistinguishable from her loneliness.

The ending was incredibly bleak and dark, which is exactly the kind of ending I love. Rather than offering an easy resolution or trying to soften what came before it, Twigg commits completely to the darkness of the story. It felt disturbing, inevitable, and strangely fitting.

This was my first Amy Twigg novel, and it absolutely will not be my last.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a little while to collect my thoughts on this because WOW, what a book. I don't think I have ever read something that made me feel so uncomfortable and so seen at the same time. The physical changes Lena goes through as a result of her loneliness and lack of control in her daily life was so well thought out and executed. The idea of filling herself up, which is endless, was incredible. I loved the writing, and I'll be searching for anything else the author has written or will write in the future.

Thank you to Headline and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Meg Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of Milk, Bread, Teeth before publication. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I’m going to be honest: I requested this book because the premise sounded absolutely wild, and it did not disappoint.

Lena is lonely, isolated and increasingly dissatisfied with her life when she develops a hunger that simply cannot be satisfied. What starts with ordinary food quickly becomes something much darker and far more disturbing. At the same time, Lena becomes increasingly fascinated by her new upstairs neighbour, Joan, an aspiring actress whose life seems to represent everything Lena wishes she had. As her hunger intensifies and her obsession grows, the two become tangled together in increasingly unsettling ways.

This book is WEIRD. And I mean that as a compliment.

Amy Twigg has created a deeply uncomfortable piece of body horror that had me simultaneously wanting to know what would happen next and wondering whether I should perhaps put the book down and stare at a wall for a while. There are some genuinely stomach-churning moments, and the further Lena descends, the more difficult it becomes to look away.

But underneath all the horror and questionable meals, there is something much more interesting happening. Milk, Bread, Teeth explores loneliness, desire, class, obsession and, most importantly, what happens when a woman knows something is wrong with her body but nobody seems willing to listen. Lena's experiences with doctors and being dismissed are particularly effective, adding an uncomfortable layer of realism to an otherwise completely unhinged story.

I also really enjoyed the way Lena is written. She isn't necessarily likeable, and she makes plenty of questionable decisions, but that made her all the more fascinating. I found myself constantly torn between wanting to understand her, wanting to shake her and desperately needing to know just how far this hunger was going to take her.

The writing is wonderfully unsettling, with a creeping sense of dread that builds as Lena's situation spirals further and further out of control. There were definitely moments when I thought, Okay, Amy Twigg has officially gone too far — only to keep reading anyway.

Sadly, I couldn't get this file sent to my Kindle, which was genuinely tragic because I would have absolutely devoured it. So now I'm looking forward to the physical release, because this is one I definitely want to own.

Milk, Bread, Teeth is disturbing, strange, compulsive and completely unforgettable. If you like weird fiction, body horror and stories about women behaving increasingly badly while something deeply wrong is happening beneath the surface, add this one to your TBR.

Just maybe don't read it while you're eating.

4.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book overall and it had potential.
However, it seemed to switch mood and genre rather frequently and didn't really seem to know what it wanted to be.
Well written and if the plot had been more coherent then I may have given it a higher rating.

Starts off as a mundane tale of the character's everyday life at the office/her flat, interspersed with some odd behavior.

Some scenes seemed almost comedic or like a parody of a horror film. The main character even refers to this!

Some scenes seemed to just be there for shock value which wasn't really needed.

The ending was unexpected and gory.

I wish that there had been more horror and a sense of creeping dread throughout the book.
Only the last 20% approximately was actually horror which is what this book was marketed as.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

[Rachel Beales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milk Bread Teeth is an uncomfortable read. It explores loneliness, mental health, childhood trauma, and a life devoid of belonging or satisfaction in a deeply unconventional way.

It examines how an individual can place all their hopes for happiness in another person rather than within themselves, and how easily we can see someone as we want them to be rather than as they truly are.

I don’t want to give away the ending, but it was genuinely disturbing and left quite an impression. Lena is an unlikable character, but there’s also something deeply sad about her, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.

If you have a strong stomach and enjoy unsettling horror, I’d recommend giving this one a read.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5 stars.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

Milk Bread Teeth follows Lena as she grapples with her growing hunger. It is a story bout obsession and the desire to fit in while also providing commentary on chronic health conditions and a medical system that does not provide answers.

This isn’t a story for the feint of heart and some descriptions of Lena’s eating habits are intense. I had to put the book down to process what Lena was eating at times.

I highly recommend this book if you like books with unreliable and badly behaved narrators about body horror with a side of social commentary.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for providing an advance copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

All opinions are my own.

[Laurie McKane · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley.

4*25

Grim, disquieting and - crucially - subtle. I admire and appreciate the creeping unease that attends the narrative, the narrator's mounting desperation; the inexorable escalation of each alongside the other and how effectively these elements combine to produce genuine tension.

Also notable is how sensitively the author approaches the narrator's compulsive eating, with the affliction not merely utilised as a device, but instead presented as something debilitating which places significant strain on the character's mental health, thereby contributing to her increasing struggles.

The horror herein isnt gluttony, but rather how someone afflicted with inexplicable urges and/or unexplained symptoms often receives judgement in place of compassion.

Gotesquerie that challenges one's preconceptions over their constitution. (To a point...) Brava!

[Merl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Milk, Bread, Teeth follows Lena, a woman who cannot stop eating. She is filled with such a hunger that nothing can fill it- food or otherwise.
She befriends an actress that moves in above her apartment which expresses her to a world of wealth and stardom she has never known.
Hunger consumes her.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but this book is 5/5⭐️
Weird girl through and through, it masterfully captures the experience of being a chronically ill woman while also commenting on our world of indulgence and commodification.

I received the e-ARC via NetGalley.

[Makayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was DISGUSTING. I LOVED IT. What an amazing body horror/weird girl book. If you want to be grossed/weirded out, this book will not disappoint This book had me HOOKED. I couldn't not stop reading this story. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

[Cris ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milk, Bread, Teeth by Amy Twigg is a wild, visceral, and deeply unsettling novel that completely subverts expectations. I flew through this book, entirely gripped by Lena’s unhinged yet painfully relatable struggle with desperation, chronic pain, and the primal need to be heard. The body horror elements are raw and haunting, acting as powerful allegories for internal anguish.

While the story is intensely captivating, a few side plots, particularly Joan’s arc, felt like they fizzled out near the end rather than reaching a definitive resolution. However, the sheer force of Lena’s voice and the dark, atmospheric tension keep you hooked from start to finish.

This is a fantastic, feral read for anyone who appreciates complex, deeply flawed protagonists and dark, atmospheric stories. Just be sure to check content warnings for animal harm before diving in!

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for the ARC.

[Georgia Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Oh man what a ride 😂 I got to the end and realised that I am Lena in the fact I ATE THIS BOOK UP!

Equal parts comedy, cringe (in the best way) and absolute horror I found myself putting it down for a few minutes to take a breather and then picking it straight back up again.

Would recommend to all horror lovers! Wouldn’t recommend if you have a weak stomach 😂