Katie: A Novel

by Dorothea Lasky

Acclaimed poet and beloved Astro Poet Dorothea Lasky brings us a searing debut work of literary horror. Katie tells the story of a woman whose decision to become a surrogate mother leads to a dangerous, possibly demonic, descent.

Katie is a young New Yorker aimlessly temping at low-wage jobs while struggling to get pregnant with her less than ardent law-school-student husband, Theo. A stray visit to a fertility clinic offering six figures soon takes her down a dangerous path as the unlikely surrogate for an unknown family.

Theo disapproves, but the money is right. Besides, Katie is soon under the thrall of the clinic’s charming and mysterious founder, Doctor John Westenson, and his coven of assistants. Katie, who carries terrible childhood guilt, is ripe for being groomed. But to what end?

Writing in the grand tradition of Carrie and The Exorcist, Dorothea Lasky has crafted a surreal, bent work of literary horror for our times.

304 pages, Paperback

Expected publication August 3, 2027