Life Cycle of a Moth

LONGLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2026
AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT OF 2025

'Astonishing' LUCY ROSE
'Biting and rich' MOLLY AITKEN
'Unforgettable' OBSERVER
'A novel of rare power' GABRIELLE GRIFFITHS

Myma, do you hear it?
Myma, do you hear?
Myma?

Maya and Daughter live in complete isolation in a secluded woodland, their days aligned with the light and changing seasons, a complex pattern of routine and ritual. Daughter has never questioned the life her mother has chosen for them; the life that has meant she's never met another soul, or known anywhere except their forest home.

But one day, when Daughter is almost sixteen, a red-haired stranger steps into the confines of their territory. Where there was always two, suddenly there are three - and the carefully constructed world that Maya has built to keep her daughter safe may not survive it.

Urgent, haunting and thrillingly alive, Life Cycle of a Moth explores both the tenderness and ferocity of maternal love, asking what we might find ourselves capable of - and willing to sacrifice - in order to shelter those we hold dear.

Rowe Irvin is a writer and artist living between London and Manchester. Her work has appeared in Prototype 5, Unquiet Slumbers: A Collection of Folk Horror Tales (Nepenthé Press) and the Stinging Fly. She was awarded second prize in the 2024 Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and the Bath Short Story Award. She is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing, with a focus on oral tradition and folk tales, at the University of Manchester. Life Cycle of a Moth is her first novel.

@bog__daughter