Brutes

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An incredible debut novel that swirls around the sinister, mesmerizing undertow of girlhood. The story is mythic and startling; the writing is lush and moving and strange. I loved every second of this book. (Also: check out that cover!!) Recommended By Kelsey F., Powells.com

The Virgin Suicides meets The Florida Project in this wildly original debut — a coming-of-age story about the crucible of girlhood, from a writer of rare and startling talent

We would not be born out of sweetness, we were born out of rage, we felt it in our bones.

In Falls Landing, Florida — a place built of theme parks, swampy lakes, and scorched bougainvillea flowers — something sinister lurks in the deep. A gang of thirteen-year-old girls obsessively orbit around the local preacher's daughter, Sammy. She is mesmerizing, older, and in love with Eddie. But suddenly, Sammy goes missing. Where is she? Watching from a distance, they edge ever closer to discovering a dark secret about their fame-hungry town and the cruel cost of a ticket out. What they see will continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Through a darkly beautiful and brutally compelling lens, Dizz Tate captures the violence, horrors, and manic joys of girlhood. Brutes is a novel about the seemingly unbreakable bonds in the "we" of young friendship, and the moment it is broken forever.

"Dreamlike...Tate's novel feels a bit like avant-garde fashion: surreal, impractical, but beautiful to see. A promising first book whose enigmatic nature is...alluring." — Kirkus Reviews

"Tate's debut novel is for readers looking for a riveting plot only topped by its captivating voices, at times honest and vulnerable, at others chilling in their detachment...Simultaneously disturbing and sentimental." — Booklist

"Mesmerizing moments...An often beautiful work." — Publishers Weekly

DIZZ TATE grew up in Florida and lives in London, U.K. She has had short stories published in Granta, The Stinging Fly, Dazed, No Tokens Journal, Five Dials, 3: AM Magazine, among other publications. She was long-listed for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award in 2020 and won the Bristol Short Story Prize in 2019. Brutes is her first novel.