Four Terrible Parents

'Witty, incisive and beautifully plotted . . . a vivid, breathless tale of art, love, family and murder' Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of, The Blue Hour 'The prose is often beautiful and melodic . . . in this highly original and entertaining book' Sunday Times
'Henkel's comedy-slash-thriller is so fiendishly plotted you might not even notice all she has to say about art, love, friendship and family' Guardian
'Calla Henkel's brilliantly offbeat new novel begins as a story about chosen family and creative reinvention before spiralling into a gripping literary mystery . . . Four Terrible Parents is equal parts millennial fever dream and page-turner' Marie Claire
They thought with four parents, nothing could go wrong. Once famous, indie-sleaze rock stars Valentine and Raul are now in their forties and their priorities are shifting. Valentine wants a family with her on-and-off partner Linh. Raul wants to marry his boyfriend Banner. They both know it's time to get out of Berlin, but Valentine, who wants it all - doesn't want to let their band go. When Valentine's father dies, she inherits a Southern gothic hotel and it feels like fate. Val convinces Raul, Banner and Linh, to move to South Carolina to renovate the crumbling and possibly haunted hotel. There they will build an alternative family and raise a child together. With four parents, no one would have to compromise their entire identity. They could all still be artists. All able to live fully. But as the four of them navigate their new home and welcome their daughter, August, into the world, their relationships start to tilt. On the night of the hotel's grand opening, what's meant to be an evening of celebration turns into a nightmare as August goes missing. Soon the parents turn on each other. And then the world turns on them. Four Terrible Parents is a story of love, jealousy and the curse of trying to have it all.

Calla Henkel is an American novelist, playwright, director and artist currently living in LA. She has staged plays at Volksbühne Berlin, The Whitney Museum of Art, as well as at New Theater, the experimental theatre space she founded and programmed in Berlin from 2013-2015. Her art writing has been published in periodicals such as Texte zur Kunst, Spike, Mousse, and others. Her artistic work with Max Pitegoff has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. Her debut novel, Other People's Clothes, was published in 2021, and her second novel, Scrap, was published in 2024 and have both been sold in multiple translation territories.