Rawblood
{{short description|2015 novel by Catriona Ward}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title =
| name = Rawblood
| image = File:Rawblood.jpg
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| caption = First edition
| author = Catriona Ward
| audio_read_by = Victoria Fox
Peter Kenny
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| country = United Kingdom, USA
| language = English
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| genre = Gothic horror, literary
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| publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK)
Sourcebooks (US)
| publisher2 =
| pub_date = September 24, 2015
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| media_type = Print (hardback, paperback), ebook, audiobook
| pages = 320
(UK 1st ed hardcover)
| awards = British Fantasy Award (2016)
| isbn = 9780297609643
| isbn_note =
(UK 1st ed hardcover)
| oclc = 921182942
| dewey = 813/.6
| congress = PS3623.A7315 R39 2017
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Rawblood is the 2015 debut horror novel by Catriona Ward.{{Cite news|url=http://www.denofgeek.com/books-comics/british-novels/39871/10-strange-novels-of-the-british-countryside|title=10 strange novels of the British countryside|last=Whiteley|first=Aliya|date=May 10, 2016|newspaper=Den of Geek|access-date=2016-10-16}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/childhood-haunting-inspired-novel/story-28292868-detail/story.html|title=How a childhood haunting inspired a novel|date=2015-12-29|newspaper=Western Morning News|access-date=2016-10-16}} The book was first published in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2015 through Weidenfeld & Nicolson.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/wn-buys-chilling-debut|title=W&N buys 'chilling' debut|last=Shaffi|first=Sarah|date=May 13, 2014|website=The Bookseller|access-date=2016-10-16}} The novel was later published in the USA on March 1, 2017 by Sourcebooks as The Girl from Rawblood.{{cite web |url=http://www.sourcebooks.com/store/girl-from-rawblood.html |title=The Girl from Rawblood |website=www.sourcebooks.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103093824/http://www.sourcebooks.com/store/girl-from-rawblood.html |archive-date=2017-01-03}}
Synopsis
At the book's start Iris Villarca is an eleven-year-old girl growing up in Dartmoor during 1910. She and her father live in a mansion named Rawblood, where he keeps her isolated from the general population. Iris's father justifies this isolation by stating that he fears that she will die from Horror autotoxicus. However, Horror autotoxicus, a term labelled by Paul Ehrlich, was in fact not a disease, but instead a theory about a mechanism of the human body to protect itself.
The father of Iris lies about this and says that Horror autotoxicus had caused her mother's death and had been a reoccurring ailment for the Villarca family. Despite this restriction Iris ends up befriending Tom Gilmore, only to find that their fathers are enemies. Iris's father discovers the relationship and tries to bribe her to stay away from Tom by paying for her tuition to medical school. She accepts the offer, but as time passes Iris begins reading in medicine books and finds out that her father has made up his statements about horror autotoxicus. After this she learns from him that there is in fact a disease that runs in the family that is much worse than the made-up one.
Reception
Strange Horizons reviewed Rawblood favorably, praising it for "deliver[ing] all the mystery and menace that one might hope for in a classic ghost story."{{Cite web|url=http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2015/12/rawblood_by_cat.shtml|title=Strange Horizons Reviews: Rawblood by Catriona Ward, reviewed by Nina Allan|last=Allan|first=Nina|date=December 2, 2015|website=Strange Horizons|access-date=2016-10-16}} The Historical Novel Society also reviewed the work, calling the writing "powerful and atmospheric".{{Cite web|url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/rawblood/|title=Rawblood by Catriona Ward (review)|website=Historical Novels Society|access-date=2016-10-16}} WHSmith selected Rawblood as a Fresh Talent title for Autumn 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://blog.whsmith.co.uk/fresh-talent-autumn-2016/|title = Fresh Talent Autumn 2016|date = 25 August 2016}}