CHRISTIANA SPENS

Forthcoming from Salt Publishing, 11th May 2026; pre-order here.

“The serrated edges of romance provide the texture for Christiana Spens’ crisp, shimmering novel The Colony. In beautiful, hypnotic prose she powerfully evokes the scars that toxic relationships can leave while satirising the empty promises of wellness culture. It is engrossing, dark and deeply atmospheric.”

Nicolas Padamsee, author of England is Mine

“An enigmatic study of submission, The Colony traces the corrosive patterns of power that can ripple from one romantic relationship to the next. In doing so, Spens pairs psychological insight with a queasy fable of wellness turned sick.”

Thomas McMullan, author of Groundwater and The Last Good Man.

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Lena is a photographer in need of a vanishing act. When she is offered an escape to a private sanctuary on a remote Scottish island, it feels like the ultimate cure for a fractured life. Here, among a community of like-minded seekers, she is encouraged to shed her past and surrender to a new, spiritual rhythm.

But as the spiritual teachings grow more consuming, the island’s beauty begins to rot. Dead birds wash up on the beaches, and the group’s ‘surrender’ starts to look like submission. In this chilling, satirical reflection on the wellness industry, Lena must decide if the price of belonging is her own sanity – and whether she can escape a utopia that has become a cage.

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Upcoming events:

Daunt Books Hampstead | Uncommon Ground: in Conversation with Patrick Galbraith | April 30th

Batsford Gallery, Hoxton | 9th-10th May 2026

Owl Bookshop, Kentish Town | Launch of The Colony | May 14th

Watkins Bookshop, London | June 25th