Rouge

A critique of the beauty industry in the form of a gothic fairytale

Mona Awad is back with another slice of delicious magical realism. Our protagonist, Belle, is obsessed with skincare and anti-aging. She has a carefully crafted regimen of peptides and ceramides and all the other skincare "ides" essential to her lengthy routine. After the sudden death of her mother, Belle must travel back to California to attend the funeral and handle her mother's considerable debts. There, she is lured into a shadowy, cult-like spa. The very same spa that her mother frequented before her death. What follows is a strange and surreal fairytale, and strange and surreal is what Mona Awad does best.