Slashed Beauties

Across centuries and continents, a dark legacy of vengeance stirs as three cursed Anatomical Venuses—ultrarealistic 18th-century wax models crafted from the likenesses of women—awaken in the dead of night to execute a bloody retribution upon the men who have exploited them. In present-day Seoul, an enigmatic antiques dealer named Alys is commissioned for an astronomical sum to transport one of these highly coveted, unsettling sculptures to London, under the strict mandate that she destroy it upon arrival. Meanwhile, in the murky underbelly of 1769 London, a penniless young woman named Eleanor is drawn into a luxurious, secretive salon controlled by a charismatic courtesan named Elizabeth, unwittingly stepping into a web of ownership and dark witchcraft that will alter her destiny and bind her spirit to the wax figure forever.Deftly pivoting between the dual timelines of Georgian England and the contemporary antiquities trade, A. Rushby’s adult debut delivers a fierce, sumptuously atmospheric exploration of bodily autonomy, institutional misogyny, and the unyielding power of female solidarity. Written with a lush, vivid prose style that balances the macabre elements of historical body horror with deep emotional resonance, this spellbinding tale functions as a brilliant critique of the objectification of women through both medicine and art history.