Milk, Bread, Teeth

by Amy Twigg

'Gluttonous, audacious and altogether a delectable work of genius' Lucy Rose

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 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 loneliness, a deliciously grim and transgressive tale that draws the reader into a frenzy of insatiable desire and consumption. It's a propulsive and shocking novel that is inspired by Amy's experiences with chronic illness and her place in publishing as a working-class woman.

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

Kindle Edition

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

[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.

[Elisa]

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

[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.

[Gee Beadle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

First off erm… literally screaming, crying, throwing up. This is one of the most stomach turning books I have read. I think I was lulled into a false sense of security by being mildly confused but happy to go along with it until things got really seriously unhinged when Lena’s hunger escalated from insatiable to literally boundless. Really chilling and visceral imagery that has stuck with me and has left me feeling horrified hours after reading it.

Fantastic writing and characterisation, and the plot is super original. I will definitely check out the author’s debut novel.

As well as being a really disturbing and chilling story, I found this novel a super interesting rumination on women’s experiences of healthcare.

4.25⭐️, definitely not for the squeamish or those easily put off their food. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed this but it was a compelling read and masterfully written.

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Net Galley and Headline for the ARC.

I completely devoured this book. This was the first book I've read by Amy Twigg and I fear I need to go read anything she has rewrite before.

Lena seems to be loosing control with her growing appetite demanding to be fed. As the days go on and the more she eats, the hunger keeps on taking. It shows her awareness as she realises she may not have any control over the hunger. As well as she struggle with loneliness and dissatisfaction.

[Dominika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably one of the more disgusting books I have read, and there have been a few. I can see that flesh-eating, insatiable women are still a hot topic. There are plenty of books out there about that and I think if we were to dig deeper there would be a lot to unpack there. I really enjoyed it, especially since weird fiction is one of my favourite genres, but at times I had to skip paragraphs because it was definitely too disgusting for me.