If there is one thing I know, it’s that Agustina Bazterrica knows how to cultivate a landscape of such horror, such intrigue, and such cunning that I’m glued to the page. I read Tender Is the Flesh a few years ago and, along with many readers, was in awe of the world of cannibalism and carnality that came to life on the pages. Now, in her new novel The Unworthy, Bazterrica has pivoted to a convent of deep foreboding and masochism in a world devastated by the climate crisis. This book balances fable, fiction, and fearlessness in a truly unforgettable fashion.
We begin this story in a secluded convent where a woman is in her room, though perhaps a cell would be a more apt description, writing the current happenings of the abbey in which she resides. In the convent, there are levels the nuns can attain, from “Chosen” all the way down to “servant”. The second lowest tier of nuns are the “Unworthy”, a sect that our protagonist belongs to in the story. The goal of these nuns is to become worthy of being “Chosen”, though what actually happens to those who are chosen is uncertain, yet almost certainly sinister in nature. The nuns are encouraged to inflict physical punishments on themselves and the nuns around them in a form of atonement. The crime? Simply being, it seems. The woman struggles to remember her life before the convent, though she is riddled with fragmented flashbacks of fighting for life in a world decimated by climate change, from poisonous creeks to acid rain. All of this comes to a head when she stumbles across a woman in copse, who enters the convent and changes her world completely.
This book is not for the faint of heart; it is body horror at its finest. Although gruesome and at times hard to stomach, the horrific aspects of this book are balanced well with lyrical prose and some truly deep questions that this book grapples with, such as what religion is and how power and misogyny fits in that web, or how and when mercy should be employed. It really was the beautiful writing that had me so engaged with this plot. How the narrator speaks about the convent makes it seem as though you are truly in her cell with her, fearing and fiending for a punishment from the Superior Sister while fighting to understand why we make the choices we make for those around us.
The world building, too, is simply stellar. The convent is well thought out, with believable levels of hierarchy consisting of unique and terrifying sects that each serve a different purpose to the story. The use of the senses to build a feeling of deep unease is an achievement I’ve rarely seen but is done so well here—you find yourself questioning the narrator’s thoughts as if they were your own, her senses as if you’d felt the stimulants yourself. There is something about taking a place that is meant to be so holy and pure and making it so corrupt and complex that is so suited to the messages that Bazterrica is trying to convey—specifically, how women bear the brunt of shame and sacrifice while being painted as sinister and sly.
This book is meant for everyone, I think. In a world where we seemingly make huge leaps forward in women’s movements only to feel massive setbacks from rampant misogyny, I think books like The Unworthy have encompassed all that women are in a way that examines both the flaws and fears of women but also their immense bravery, care, and grief. The genre of horror serves as an immaculate setting in which to do this because all of these emotions and traits can be drawn out into larger-than-life moments and good authors, like Bazterrica, can make these moments feel familiar, make the emotions feel so relatable despite our own lack of horror setting.
It was a true pleasure to get to read The Unworthy a little ahead of time and have it be my first five-star read of 2025. This book is swimming with stomach-dropping moments and unforgettable meditations on power, shame and scorn, all the while floating in a sinister world that is eerily reflective of our own.
FICTION
The Unworthy
By Agustina Bazterrica
Scribner
Published March 4, 2025
