The Caretaker by Cass Clarke
Cara, an overworked ICU nurse, could think of one million other things to do than sort through her dead mother's house. Still, she's here -- cleaning a home she thought she abandoned long ago. Of course, it doesn't take Cara long before she stumbles upon her mother's buried secrets and becomes curiously stuck with a haunted hospice bed. Roping in her ride-or-die cousin Dylan and witchy ex-girlfriend Beth into the proceedings, Cara unwittingly drags her beloveds into a gauntlet of horrors.
Stitched together with humor and ramshackle nerves, THE CARETAKER is a story that asks: How do you go on after the worst has already happened to you? Best described as Motherthing meets Something Wicked This Way Comes, THE CARETAKER is a raw story of grief that seeks to break as many hearts as it heals.
“Cass Clarke’s novella is a powerful portrait of grief forged in a crucible of terrors. It blazes with humanness and fiercely burns for the transmutation of pain in the most shocking and also loving ways. There is humor, horror, and healing here. A great, sometimes sexy, and often gruesome read that chips away, cracked nails and all, at what it means to love, be loved, and let go.” – Toby Poser, Adams Family Films.
“Cass Clarke's The Caregiver is a chilling nightmare that gets to the core of my deepest fear. Equal parts terrifying and heart-breaking, Clarke beautifully imbues the novella with a
deep sense of empathy that makes its horrors all the more devastating.” – Mary Beth McAndrews, Dread Central
“There's a delicious ache that comes in the aftermath of being startled by images and emotions that sneak up on you when you weren't expecting them. That ache...? That ache is "The Caretaker". In this novella, Clarke has managed to wrap up stark imagery and poignant evocations of feelings that don't want to be remembered within an allegory of motherhood and caretaking that will ache long after you're done reading.” – R.J. Joseph, award winning, Stoker™ and Shirley Jackson awards nominated writer.
United StatesAmazing Debut!
The Caretaker is an astounding debut. It's absolutely dripping with raw emotion, yet funny too and scary as hell. Clarke is a writer to watch!