Bridget Penney's Licorice follows a group of people involved in the making of a film, yet, as production unfolds, the distinction between what is being staged and what is actually happening becomes difficult to maintain.

Penney's writing is conversational, restless and sharply attentive to the ways people interpret one another. Through discussions of camera angles, sets, performances and the practical absurdities of production, the novel explores questions of creative authority, emotional dependency and the stories people construct around themselves. Its characters are frequently uncertain of what they want, or whether their explanations bear much resemblance to their actions.

The novel also draws on British folk horror, particularly the legend of Nan Kemp, whose violent history the filmmakers attempt to reconstruct. Penney uses the conventions of the genre to examine who gets to tell a story, whose version becomes authoritative, and how easily the supposedly distant horrors of the past become entangled with those of the present. 

Edition / Condition: Book Works, 2020. First edition paperback, published as the inaugural title in the Interstices series, in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Illustrated cover, with an experimental typographic insert. Good to very good condition, with light signs of handling.