The Stain

by Rikki Ducornet

Overview

In The Stain Rikki Ducornet tells the story of a young girl named Charlotte, branded with a furry birthmark in the shape of a dancing hare, regarded as the mark of Satan. "Sadistic nuns, scatology, butchered animals, monkish rapists, and Satan" (Kirkus), as well as the village exorcist, inhabit this bawdy tale of perversion, power, possession, and the rape of innocence. Ducornet weaves an intricate design of fantasy and reality, at once surreal, hilarious, and terrifying.

"This is the most brilliant first novel I have read in years. . . . Rikki Ducornet's real talent is for language. She is a minor lord or lady of it, achieving abstruse comic effects by a kind of clowning classicism. The Stain is a very odd, accomplished and memorable novel by any standards." (Robert Nye, The Guardian)

"A highly disciplined extravaganza. . . . The writing is highly impressive." (Times Literary Supplement)

"Ducornet displays distinct page-by-page talents (vivid imagery and invention) along the lines of Angela Carter." (Kirkus 8-1-84)

"Readers with voracious appetites for the bizarre may relish the spread prepared by Ducornet." (Publishers Weekly)

"A bold, Rabelaisian mixture of bawdy and horror, this first novel . . . is highly recommended." (Library Journal)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628975659
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	02/04/2025
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Rikki Ducornet was born in New York and has lived in North Africa, South America, Canada and France. Her work as an illustrator first came to the attention of the Canadian book trade in 1974 with the publication of Susan Musgrave's "Gullband". In 1983, the Porcupine's Quill commissioned Rikki to illustrate an edition of Jorge Luis Borges' "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius".

Rikki is the author of three short-story collections, seven books of poetry, and seven novels, including "The Fan-Maker's Inquisition" and "The Jade Cabinet". She is also a painter whose work has been exhibited widely. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

A riotous extravaganza, comic, melodramatic and touch­ing, that goes over the top time and time again but never loses its antic grace and sure sense of place.” —Angela Carter

“This is the most brilliant first novel I have read in years. . . . Rikki Ducornet’s real talent is for language. She is a minor lord or lady of it, achieving abstruse comic effects by a kind of clowning classicism. The Stain is a very odd, accomplished and memorable novel by any standards.” —Robert Nye, The Guardian

“A highly disciplined extravaganza. . . . The writing is highly impressive.” —Times Literary Supplement

“A tale of witchcraft, prostitution and sex . . . the images evoked in relentless detail recall Brueghel and Bosch . . . the atmosphere is steamy and pungent, indubitably a powerful nightmare vision.” —London Times

“An extraordinary black, erotic fairytale, an exuberant, touching and very funny novel.” —Time Out

“Ducornet displays distinct page-by-page talents (vivid im­ agery and invention) along the lines of Angela Carter.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Readers with voracious appetites for the bizarre may relish the spread prepared by Ducornet.” —Publishers Weekly

“A bold, Rabelaisian mixture of bawdy and horror, this first novel . . . is highly recommended.” —Library Journal

From the Publisher

"A bold, Rabelaisian mixture of bawdy and horror," said LJ's reviewer of this first novel (LJ 9/15/84). The plot centers on the youth of protagonist Charlotte, who is born with a supposed demonic birthmark that earns her harsh treatment from family and strangers alike in late-19th-century France.

Library Journal