Fruit of the Dead

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An electric contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter unfolds over a summer on a lush private island, delving into modern power dynamics in a new underworld. Eighteen-year-old camp counselor Cory Ansel, feeling lost and reluctant to confront her high-strung single mother in New York, finds an unexpected alternative when Rolo Picazo, the charismatic CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, offers her a childcare job on his private island. Despite her internal warnings, Cory succumbs to the allure of luxury and the opiates produced by Rolo's company, convincing herself she is in control. Meanwhile, her mother, Emer, who runs a struggling agricultural NGO, senses something is amiss when Cory seemingly vanishes. Driven by an instinctual cry for help, Emer embarks on a desperate journey to find her daughter. Alternating between the perspectives of the two women, the narrative weaves mythic elements with haunting precision, exploring themes of love, attraction, control, and the complexities of the mother-daughter bond within the framework of America’s late capitalist society. The story is a gripping, intoxicating tale that captivates and lingers in the reader's mind long after the last page.