During a still hot autumn in New York City, a rabies-like illness spreads among blonde women, causing them to “rage out” and attack passersby. The epidemic shuts down New York where Hazel, a grad student who is pregnant and alone, tries to escape only to find the disease infecting women throughout North America. With echoes of White Noise and a biting satiric wit, Emily Schultz’s novel is an examination of what happens in a world where beauty is deadly.
Picador, 2015, 400 pages
PRAISE FOR THE BLONDES
“The Blondes is scary and deeply, bitingly funny — a satire about gender that kept me reading until 4 in the morning — and a fine addition to the all-too-small genre of feminist horror.” NPR (Also a Great Reads 2015 selection)
“Emily Schultz is my new hero.” Stephen King
“A nail-biter that is equal parts suspense, science fiction, and a funny, dark sendup of the stranglehold of gender.” Kirkus Reviews , Best Books of 2015
“Funny, horrific, and frighteningly realistic, Schultz’s second novel is a must read.” The Library Journal (starred)
“[A] ferociously clever, exceedingly well written variation on the pandemic novel…This canny, suspenseful, acidly observant satire cradles an intimate, poignant, and hilarious story of one lonely, stoic, young mother-to-be caught up in surreal and terrifying situations.” Booklist (starred)
“This frighteningly realistic nail-biter is as acidly funny as it is twisted.” People Magazine
“Schultz spins an eerie tale with perspective into our cultural attitudes about beauty.” Entertainment Weekly
“What sounds like George Romero with a bottle of peroxide is surprisingly sensitive and contemplative… As classic blonde jokes acquire deadly hues, the novel’s satiric color remains subtle.” Ron Charles, The Washington Post
"A road story, and a feminist bildungsroman, and a parable about prejudice and reproductive freedom and immigration.” Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
“Those who enjoy Margaret Atwood should sign up for it. I did, and gladly.”
Alan Cheuse, Dallas Morning News
“The Blondes is the book you can’t put down; it’s also the book you can’t stop thinking about after you do.” Bookpage (Top Fiction pick and Best Books of 2015)
“The Blondes is intelligent, mesmerizing, and fearless. An entirely original and beautifully twisted satire with a heart of darkness.” Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
“Skin-crawling, Cronenbergian satire.” Rue Morgue
"Corrosively humorous commentary on social, sexual and cross-border politics." —Toronto Star
“Emily Schultz balances biting humor and thrilling suspense in a complex story.” Us Weekly
"The Blondes [aims] to be both a realist narrative about loneliness, insecurities and maternal anxieties and a fantastical, not quite allegorical tale of a semi-apocalypse. It’s a testament to author Emily Schultz’s immense gifts with tone, detail and the crafting of a compelling first-person voice that this novel is never less than engaging even when this balance begins to feel absurd." National Post
“A wild and smart look at cultural theory, gender roles, and societal expectations.” LongReads
“A campy, King-inspired nightmare sure to satisfy the scream queens in the audience…” Bustle
“The Blondes by Emily Schultz gives a twisted meaning to the phrase ‘blondes have more fun.’ I giggled and shivered.” Minnesota Journal Sentinel
“With a lively sense of danger … and an absurdist but compelling feminist premise, the book has the enviable qualities of a smart page-turner.“ Flavorwire
"A hybrid novel, at the crossroads of the history of zombies, a nightmare scenario and the story of an adulterous liaison gone wrong, Blondes is bathed in light humor and self mockery." Christian Desmeules, Le Devoir