ITCH!, Gemma Amor
ITCH!, Gemma Amor
List: $31.99 | Sale: $21.76
Club: $15.99

ITCH!
The darkly feminist horror novel crawling under your skin for Halloween 2025

Author: Gemma Amor

Narrator: Gemma Amor

Unabridged: 9 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/09/2025

Synopsis

READERS LOVE GEMMA's DARK WORLD
'If you are after something that is both shocking and horrifically beautiful then take a journey and discover this little atrocity for yourself'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I kept telling myself I really should turn off the light and get to bed now, eyes dry, head heavy, but every sentence in this book commands the reader keep turning the pages and press onward...' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Gemma pulled me in with this compelling tale. Each page turned yielded me to another. I couldn't stop. Seriously!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Josie is at rock bottom. Burned out and recovering from an abusive relationship, she lives a haunted existence after returning to her isolated hometown on the edge of the Forest of Dean.

But the tall, dense pine trees are not the only things casting shadows across her skin.

When Josie stumbles across a dead woman's decaying, ant-infested body in the woods, she plummets into a downward spiral, facing uncomfortable truths about the victim and her own past - all whilst battling the swarming black ants that seem to have burrowed into her mind . . . and her flesh.

Struggling with infestations of all kinds, Josie scratches the surface of an age-old mystery - a masked predator stalks the forest around Ellwood, a place deeply gripped by folklore and strange customs. As the village prepares for its annual festival, Josie gets closer and closer to unveiling a monster, and begins to ask herself:

Are these dark crawling insects leading her to uncover the truth? Or is she their next victim?

About Gemma Amor

Gemma Amor is a Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award-nominated horror author, editor, illustrator, and podcaster based in Bristol, UK. She was named one of Esquire's Writers Shaping Horror's Next Golden Age, and recently featured in Ellen Datlow's prestigious Best Horror of the Year anthology, Vol. 15. Gemma loves to write about misunderstood monsters, both human and supernatural, as well as feminist horror. Itch! is her first novel with Hodder & Stoughton.

Reviews

Goodreads review by John on July 15, 2025

My review is published at Grimdark Magazine. ITCH! is the new feminist folk horror by the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award nominated author Gemma Amor. As the novel opens, Josie Jackson returns to her rural hometown following a bitter breakup with her abusive partner, Lena. Already physically an......more

Goodreads review by Gareth on October 14, 2025

A fantastic slice of creepy crawly folk horror from Gemma Amor. You all know how folk horror often turns out. Creepy behaviour from all the yokels, strange and unexplained traditions including some kind of ritual at the culmination. Itch follows many of these tropes, but somehow manages to make all o......more

Goodreads review by Gyalten Lekden on November 02, 2025

Searingly intimate writing brings you under the skin of this story, scratching, desperate from air. There is a claustrophobia to it, which is really wonderful. It is contemporary folk horror doing what it does best, blur the lines of reality and make you question yourself, repeatedly, living in the......more

Goodreads review by Lala on December 06, 2025

I think others will love this, it just wasn't for me. The opening was intriguing and disturbing (in a great way), and then the plot became quite repetitive and predictable and I lost interest.......more

Goodreads review by thevampireslibrary on June 26, 2025

gemma can do no wrong this is deliciously disgusting review to come!......more

Quotes

A deeply felt, haunting folk horror that crawls with secrets and darkness. This disturbing and tender novel possessed me and made my skin crawl. It will keep you up long into the night!

So weird and juicy and gross and brilliant and made me want to slather myself in calamine lotion. I loved it!

As fun as it is earnest, ITCH! is an unflinching tale of the grotesque side of humanity and the people who unearth its rotting remains. From the first page, this story is already under your skin, building a nest in your heart

A chilling and tremendously disturbing examination of a wounded mind, of a fragile soul pushed to the limits of her very existence because of trauma, ritual, and obsession. Sinister and utterly fiendish, ITCH! is a shocking and truly surprising blend of mystery, folk horror, and body horror that will burrow deep in your softest places, into your tenderest, most unspoiled secret parts

This novel will genuinely make your skin crawl - you've been warned! RED

ITCH! places Gemma Amor firmly at the top of today's horror talent pool. It's as if a small village Tana French murder mystery turned into full on folk horror, with a constant buzz of body horror underneath. I couldn't have loved this more. It's under my skin now, and it itches! One of the year's absolute must-reads!

An exquisitely crafted, uniquely unnerving horror story told with stunning empathy. ITCH! is a visceral, astute, tense spiral into the lingering damage of abuse and violence. As unflinching and terrifying as it is gentle-hearted, it has all the makings of a horror classic

ITCH! is a marvel: a suppurating mash-up of body horror and folk horror, with real-world atrocities buried at its oozing core. Fans of Pine by Francine Toon, or the Merrily Watkins books by Phil Rickman, will go wild for this fast-paced, smart, intensely female-voiced work from the bowels of the English countryside

This wildly original tale will give you the heebie-jeebies SUN

Gemma Amor masterfully weaves [...] a veritable tapestry of horror, building to an enormously gratifying climax that left my mouth agape. ITCH! is not for the squeamish, [but] is an immensely satisfying novel and another highlight in Gemma Amor's impressive body of literature Grimdark Magazine

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List