Sarah Langan + Victor LaValle: Trad Wife

Moderating the discussion is award-winning horror novelist Victor LaValle. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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ACCESSIBILITY:

Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at [email protected] by Sept. 17 to request.

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“A genre beast—menacing, claustrophobic, and wholly unexpected.” —Mariana Enriquez, New York Times bestselling author of Our Share of Night

From the three-time Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Good Neighbors comes a chilling tale of a journalist's descent into horror as she uncovers the dark secrets behind a trad wife influencer, blending suspense with a critique of modern femininity and the manipulative forces of social media.

Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic 300-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven perfect children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind every perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror.

Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing exposé, determined to expose the deception behind Mia’s curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with than staged videos and picture-perfect poses. There’s something wrong at the farmhouse. Something slithers through Jenny’s dreams, and at night, the children sing strange nursery rhymes.

She’s losing time. She’s losing her hair. She starts to worry that she’s losing her mind.

There is a horror at the heart of Black Swan, and it’s waiting just for Jenny. Trad Wife will make you question what’s real and what’s just a perfectly curated deception…
Will you see the lie?

Photo credit: JT Petty

Sarah Langan, a Columbia MFA graduate and three-time recipient of the Bram Stoker Award, is the author of several novels including A Better World and Good Neighbors. She’s got an MS in environmental health science, grew up on Long Island, and she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughters. Find out more at SarahLangan.com.

Victor LaValle is the author of eight works of fiction and two graphic novels. His most recent novel, Lone Women, was a national bestseller. His novel The Changeling was adapted as a series for Apple TV. He adapted his novel for AMC as a limited series, The Terror: Devil in Silver and served as its showrunner. He has received a World Fantasy Award, two Bram Stoker Awards, and two Shirley Jackson Awards among others. He serves as the Chair of the Graduate Writing Program at Columbia University.