She Made Herself a Monster: A Novel

A debut novel set in nineteenth-century Bulgaria, where a traveling con artist posing as a vampire slayer meets a teenage orphan. Together they devise a plan to create a monster that might help the girl escape her circumstances. Yana travels from town to town, staging elaborate displays—animal corpses and blood-filled eggs—while telling villagers stories of vampires. She then eliminates the supposed threat, offering the communities hope. In the village of Koprivci, plagued by illness and infant mortality, she encounters Anka, an orphan whom the villagers blame for their misfortune. The village Captain is forcing Anka toward marriage against her will. When Yana arrives, the two devise a scheme to conjure a monster so terrible it might provide cover for Anka's escape. However, their plan quickly spirals beyond their control. Inspired by Slavic folklore, the novel weaves together witchcraft, ghost stories, heresy, and deception. It explores themes of agency and collective action through the story of two women attempting to seize control of their own fates.