The Wasp Factory

On a remote Scottish island, seventeen-year-old Frank Cauldhame lives with a silent father and a private ritual life: a homemade Wasp Factory that he uses as an oracle, a catalog of childhood killings, and a watch on the water for his escaped brother Eric. The present action is a few days of phone calls, tide, and waiting while Frank explains his methods and the house's locked rooms. Family lies about bodies, measurement, and the locked study begin to surface. The novel is a first-person horror of isolation and identity, not a naturalist's account of insects.

Quarter-bound in title blocked yellow leather with dark blue buckram sides blocked and overprinted with a design by the artist. Clamshell box covered in dark blue cloth blocked with gold decorations, gold ends, front with an inset paper label printed with an illustration, lined in blocked metallic blue and metallic mustard paper.