On the Savage Side by Tiffany MacDaniel

Arcade and Daffodil are twins born one minute apart. With their fiery red hair and thirst for escape, they form an unbreakable bond nurtured by their grandmother’s stories. Together, they disappear into their imaginations and forge a world all their own. 

But what the two sisters can’t escape are the generational ghosts that haunt their family. Growing up in the shadow of their rural Ohio town, the sisters cling tightly to one another. Years later, Arcade wrestles with the memories of her early life, just as a local woman is discovered drowned in the river. Soon, more bodies are found. As her friends disappear around her, Arcade is forced to reckon with the past while the killer circles closer. Arcade’s promise to keep herself and her sister safe becomes increasingly desperate and the powerful riptide of the savage side becomes more difficult to survive.

Drawing from the true story of women killed in Chillicothe, Ohio, acclaimed novelist and poet Tiffany McDaniel has written a moving literary testament and fearless elegy for missing women everywhere.

REVIEWS

"Stunning... McDaniel portrays the twins and the others in their group as almost preternaturally bright, full of knowledge and wonder, making for an aching contrast to their traumas of addiction, abuse, violence, and loss. It’s a striking portrayal of women fighting for their lives, and one readers won’t soon forget." —Publishers Weekly, starred

"An exploration of addiction and grief and an indictment of how we decide who deserves saving. As she did in Betty, McDaniel gives every character the voice of a poet."—Kirkus

"Tiffany McDaniel’s gorgeously written On the Savage Side, loosely inspired by the Chillicothe murders in Ohio, tells the story of two twin sisters, their friends who go missing, and all the ways women suffer in the world. Reading this book is like looking through a haunted kaleidoscope."—Crime Reads

PRODUCT DETAILS
Paperback
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 978-0593315125
Pages: 464