David Marlow 
Surreal Estate 

SURREAL ESTATE, David Marlow’s wondrous and terrifying novel, calls to mind the cunning satire of Thomas Berger and Fay Weldon, the emotional vigor of A.M. Homes, and the plot-driven intensity of Stephen King.

Dewey Walsey and his pregnant wife, Judith, have fled Hollywood to escape the disastrous, career-wrecking failure of ‘Silver Rainbow’, the western epic he wrote. Their peaceful summer on an unpopulated island in Maine turns ominous as strange and surreal events begin to occur around their isolated cottage. Dewey begins to wonder if Judith’s history of mental illness isn’t to blame for these bizarre occurrences.

On the day of a monstrous early winter blizzard, the electricity fails and Judith goes into labor, weeks ahead of schedule, and suffers a profound nervous breakdown. Alone against the elements, Dewey must deliver their premature baby while also caring for his wife’s sudden and harrowing predicament.

Alternating the reins of narration, Dewey and Judith each clarify their side of what they say really happened. Along the way, Marlow keeps tightening the suspense until the macabre puzzle comes together in a hair-raising finale.

SURREAL ESTATE is an unsettling, darkly comic tale, full of startling secrets and never-racking surprises.

About the author

In this wondrous, terrifying novel, Dewey Walsey and his pregnant wife Judith have fled Hollywood to escape the disastrous, career-wrecking failure of ‘Silver Rainbow’, the western epic he wrote. Their peaceful summer on an unpopulated island in Maine turns ominous as strange and disturbing events begin to occur around their isolated cottage. On the day of a monstrous early winter blizzard, the electricity fails at the same time Judith goes into labor, weeks ahead of schedule. When she suffers a profound nervous breakdown, she tries to take her own life by slashing her wrists in the bathtub. Alone against the elements, Dewey must deliver their premature baby while also caring for his wife’s sudden and harrowing predicament.
As Dewey and Judith take turns orchestrating the reins of narration, they each attempt to clarify their side of what they say really happened.
Surreal Estate is an unsettling, darkly comic tale, full of startling revelations and nerve-racking surprises, whose suspense keeps tightening until the macabre pieces of the puzzle come together in a hair-raising finale.