To Eat Your Love: Queer Horror, Motherhood, and the Beauty of Food - The Lamb by Lucy Rose

TW: Cannibalism, Child Abuse

In the isolated woods of England, Margot and her Mama live in a series of flashes between "strays" - vulnerable hitchhikers and lost souls who find their way to the humble cottage and become a victim to the hunger of the family within. Mama's appetite seems insatiable and Margot is taught to move invisibly through the world. No questions, no doctors, no attention - but when a new stranger ends up at their doorstep, everything begins to change. Margot begins to realize that she is no longer safe. 

Welcome to The Lamb by Lucy Rose.

A Prime Cut of Long Pig

Motherhood - the dream. It's something that people who assigned female at birth (AFAB, from here out) are told is the most important thing they can do in their life. Our worth is determined by our bodies and most of us spend our entire lives being judged for how we look, what we are capable of, and whether we can pop out a few children before our biological clock runs down. What's even worse is that while there are resources available for pregnant people, they can be inaccessible due to many factors, including poverty. Mama, in The Lamb, is a woman who needs. She needs company, she needs love, she needs food. It doesn't matter how she gets it or who she hurts along the way. She wasn't prepared for a child - and in fact, resents Margot's presence when it interferes with what she wants. But she loves her daughter, and despite everything else that happens, that toxic love is what carries the story forward, even as it is shifted to an obsession with Eden. 

Eden sweeps into their lives like a whirlwind, a fae woman who leans into the cannibalism that Mama revels in. She turns it into an art form in food - puffed pastries stuffed with delicate slices of long pork, described with the intensity of a food lover whose appetites lean towards the horrific. She is the focal point for the story, Margot and Mama's world shifting around her as she tries to protect them and control them. 

There are two queer stories happening here - the intense obsession between Mama and Eden and the beginning stages of sapphic romance between Margot and her friend Abbie. Margot's feelings lead her to take risks, drawing attention to herself. Margot feels a deep fascination and loathing for Eden, especially as begins trying to prove herself by bringing a "stray" for them. Abbie's father is a victim early on and Margot begins to struggle with feelings of guilt that she can't identify.

The story feels like a slow burn, to a certain point, where everything begins to move quicker than Margot (or the reader) expects. The Lamb brings a fresh look at love, horror, and the lengths we go to for those we call family. It is a darkly queer love story, with a lesson about the dangers of loving obsessively. 

Remember, my little lambs, when the table is set with good china and the meat has stopped screaming, I shall be here with another suggestion, should you need it.