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Shop nowDon't Say We Didn't Warn You
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Two sisters unite to survive a traumatic upbringing—from absentee parents to a wilderness camp for troubled teens—in this “relentless and spooky” (Joy Williams) debut novel from an essential new voice.
“A story that’s so weird, it has to be true. . . . Keeps our attention in a chokehold.”—The New York Times
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Good Housekeeping
“When the Juvenile Transportation Services come for you in the night in a preordained kidnapping, complete with an unmarked van and husky guardsmen you can’t outmatch, you have been sold for a promise.”
A young woman thinks she has escaped her past only to discover that she’s been hovering on its edges all along: She and her younger sister bide their time in a dilapidated warehouse in a desolate town north of New York City; their parents settled there with dreams of starting an art commune. But after the girls’ father vanishes, all traces of stability disappear for the family, and the girls retreat into strange worlds of their own mythmaking and isolation.
As the sisters both try to survive their increasingly dark and dangerous adolescences, they break apart and reunite repeatedly, orbiting each other like planets. Both endure stints at the Veld Center, a wilderness camp where troubled teenage girls are sent as a last resort, and both emerge more deeply warped by the harsh outdoor survival experiences they must endure and the attempts by staff to break them down psychologically.
With a mesmerizing voice and uncanny storytelling style, this is a remarkable debut about two women who must struggle to understand the bonds that link them and how their traumatic history will shape who they choose to become as adults.
Reviews
“Dixon’s chilling and evocative debut features two sisters whose traumatic history bonds them and shapes their adulthood.”—Ms.“A badass queer thriller.”—Autostraddle
“Haunting at times, this book will linger with you for days to come after finishing it.”—Debutiful
“What a striking literary arrival! Ariel Delgado Dixon is a prose stylist with a rare talent marked by atmospheric rhythm. This distinct tale of two sisters, crawling with tension, will carve its way into your dreams.”—Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Sabrina & Corina
“Eventful, complex, admirably structured, relentless, and spooky.”—Joy Williams, author of Harrow
“The high, subtle tension in Ariel Delgado Dixon’s fiction arises from the precision of her language. However wild the situations her characters find themselves in—and they find themselves in some wild ones indeed—her control never falters. She’s a master of cold light and moral ambiguity. . . . A new, uncompromising voice.”—Camille Bordas, author of How to Behave in a Crowd
“Terrifying and beautiful . . . an incredible debut . . . This evocative story of sisterhood, deception, and danger is written in incisive and brilliant prose. I could not put it down.”—Emily Ruskovich, author of Idaho
“A self-assured debut that explores complicated bonds of sisterhood, Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You strikes the perfect balance of a story that feels both singular and universal. Dixon is a talented writer with a fresh voice that had me hooked from the first page.”—Sara Nović, author of True Biz
“Ariel Delgado Dixon is a writer of preternatural ability, and her first novel is a powerful expression of it. Dixon’s work shines a stark light on this new and dangerous strange world in which we find ourselves and does so with such insight, such grace. Dixon is a once-in-a-generation talent.”—Brady Udall, author of The Lonely Polygamist
“Consistently and devastatingly intriguing . . . A coming-of-age rife with destruction.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Two sisters navigate childhood trauma in Dixon’s chilling, complex debut. . . . The layered story lines and Fawn’s shocking actions pay big dividends. Readers will be eager to see what the author does next.”—Publishers Weekly Expand reviews