John Murray Press Four Terrible Parents (4, 2026) | Calla Henkel

What happens when the dream of starting your own family turns into a nightmare? Valentine and Raul have been touring in their indie-sleaze band SEZME since their college days, but as they enter their early forties priorities change. It's time to move out of Berlin and start settling down. Raul is ready to marry his partner, Banner, and Valentine wants to start a family with her on-and-off-again partner, Linh, but she isn't quite ready to let go of the band. Determined to piece together the perfect life with the band and a family, Valetine begins planning, and when she inherits the crumbling Southern gothic hotel she grew up in from her late father, it feels like fate. Convincing Raul, Banner and Linh to join her in renovating the hotel, she begins to dream up a queer family life together after facing a homophobic upbringing. But as the four of them navigate their new life and welcome a daughter, August, their relationships start to sour. 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. Stylish, twisty and laced with dark humour, Four Terrible Parents is a story of power, love, responsibility and what happens when parents turn on each other. And then the world turns on them.