Inspired by the real (and chilling) history of Anatomical Venuses—lifelike wax models of beautiful women used to teach male medical students in the 18th century— SLASHED BEAUTIES reimagines these figures as bewitched women bent on vengeance
by A. Rushby
September 23, 2025
Genre: Gothic fiction, horror,
A gothic feminist body horror in two timelines revolving around three Anatomical Venuses—ultrarealistic wax figures of women—that come to life at night to murder men who have wronged them.
Seoul, present day. Antiques dealer Alys’s task is nearly complete. She has at last secured Elizabeth, the final anatomical Venus in a dangerously intertwined trio. Crafted in eighteenth-century London and modeled after real-life sex workers to entice male medical students to study female anatomy, these eerie wax figures, known as slashed beauties, carry unsavory lore. Legend has it that the figures are bewitched, and come to life at night to murder men who have wronged them. Now Alys embarks for England, where she knows what she must do: sever her cursed connection to the Venuses once and for all.
London, 1763. Abandoned and penniless in Covent Garden, wide-eyed Eleanor and another young woman, Emily, are taken under the wing of beautiful and beguiling Elizabeth, one of the city’s most highly desired courtesans. But as Eleanor is seduced deeper into a web of money, materialism, and men, it seems that Elizabeth may not be the savior she appears to be.
As past and present begin to intersect, it becomes clear that the women’s stories are linked in deeper, darker ways than it initially seems. And that the only method for Alys to end the witchcraft that binds her legacy is to gather all three models in one place and destroy them.
The problem is, Elizabeth is not ready to burn. Far from it. Centuries on, she is determined to rise again, and she will obliterate anything standing in her path. Including Alys herself.
Praise for Slashed Beauties
"Rushby takes readers on a globe-trotting, timeline-straddling journey...brisk and entertaining... Rushby’s characters are richly realized, and she doesn’t shy away from depicting the high risk of their lives as sex workers or society’s cruelty and indifference toward women on the margins. Tense and fast-paced with refreshingly unique supernatural elements."- Publishers Weekly
"Slashed Beauties is the warped, witchy lovechild of Madame Tussaud and Jack the Ripper – an engrossing gothic tale of friendship, misogyny, and the murderous consequence of denying women's autonomy." – Ellie Marney, New York Times bestselling author of None Shall Sleep
"Utterly compelling from the first page to the final, shocking twist, Slashed Beauties is a darkly exquisite story that explores the corrosive effects of misogyny and the enduring power of female love." – Christine Wells, author of The Paris Gown
"An extraordinary tale. Slashed Beauties left me spellbound.’"– Emma Grey, author of Pictures of You
"Easily one of the best books I've read this year... Captivating from start to end and tells a haunting tale of feminine rage." - Abbie Eaton, author of Dragonhart
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Gifted the middle name of Jane, for Jane Austen, wordsmithing was duly destined and, under several pseudonyms, A. Rushby (also writing as Allison Rushby and A.J. Rushby) has published more than thirty books. She has long been a fan of cities steeped in history, wild, overgrown cemeteries, red brick Victorian museums, the curious and the uncanny. She prefers to write with a cup of French Earl Grey tea by her side and a cat curled up in her lap.
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