The Unworthy

A Novel

De: Agustina Bazterrica

Narrado por: Imani Jade Powers

The long-awaited new novel from the author of global sensation Tender Is the Flesh: a thrilling work of literary horror about a woman cloistered in a secretive, violent religious order, while outside the world has fallen into chaos.

From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe.

But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?

A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror.

©2025 Agustina Bazterrica (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

Beautiful writing

I wish I could read it again for the first time. Dark. Compelling. Profound. Wild imagery. Palpable creativity. Love it.

a diary of woe.

absolutely amazing. cant stop thinking about it.
go into it without knowing much, as the effect it gives you is absolutely magical.
very sapphic, and very brutal.
doesn’t romanticize some of the more difficult topics.

Another one!

Bazterrica is a phenomenal world builder and storyteller, with just the right amount of grief and gore.

Disturbing poetry!

Loved the story and presentation. Read very well. The author has such a talent for disturbing books.

world-building

I loved how fast the author was able to paint such a vivid world. Agustina Bazterrica can do in 5-pages what takes other authors whole novels to do.

Something great is coming in A.B.

This was an incredibly intense little book. I loved how perverse and macabre the worlds Bazterica makes are. I truly think she may one day write a novel as influential as the Brothers Karamazov or Catcher in the Rye. I loved both of her novels so far, but simply couldn’t get into 19 Claws. I think she just needs more pages to play with. There is even a sentence in this book towards the beginning, about the lines of the characters writing being made of her blood, sweat, and filth (or something like that), and it was very illuminating. In a time when Dystopian Literature is so over-done it’s gross, she somehow makes the idea interesting and fresh. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. Although I hope her publishers don’t rush her, and give her the time she needs to create something amazing once again.

Fansinating setting, predictable story.

The small world of the sisterhood created in this book is fascinating. There's so much that exists within their small part of a broken world. Unfortunately none of the interesting aspects are ever truly explored but simply mentioned over and over again at a surface level.

The story itself is incredibly predictable which was quite saddening. With all the interesting elements in the book of religion, miracles, and things that can't be explained I truly hoped to have my expectations subverted.