Four Terrible Parents
An addictive story of love, jealousy and the curse of trying to have it all | 'Brilliant' Kim Gordon
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.
Four Terrible Parents
Narrated by:
Kate Handford
Pre-order Now for £17.94
-
Narrated by:
-
Kate Handford
-
By:
-
Calla Henkel
Summary
'Incredibly charming, fun and relentlessly whipsmart . . . Brilliant' Kim Gordon, singer of Sonic Youth and author of, Girl in a Band
'Calla Henkel is unparalleled . . . Sheer perfection' Katy Hays, bestselling author of, The Cloisters
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.©2026 Calla Henkel (P)2026 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
Critic reviews
Witty, incisive and beautifully plotted, Four Terrible Parents is a vivid, breathless tale of art, love, family and murder. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Torrey Peters (Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of)
Incredibly charming, fun and relentlessly whipsmart . . . Brilliant (Kim Gordon, singer of Sonic Youth and author of)
Calla Henkel is unparalleled-her plots intricately built, her characters wholly original, and her skill at balancing chaos and narrative drive is without peer. Four Terrible Parents is all of those things but it's also brimming with unexpected warmth and bursting with Henkel's trademark sly wit. A story of a disappearance, it's also a hectic manual of self-discovery, and like all things Henkel: it does both with verve and joy. Sheer perfection. (Katy Hays, bestselling author of)
Darkly funny and brilliantly biting, this book punches right to the heart. Calla Henkel just gets better and better every time (Tobi Coventry, author of)
Praise for Calla Henkel
Blackly humorous and enjoyably twisted (Paula Hawkins, author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN)
A sparkling debut . . . a very good plot-driven thriller dressed in a glittery jumpsuit
Brutal, glamorous and genuinely unpredictable, it will blow your mind until the very last page
Hugely entertaining
Other People's Clothes is a gritty take on toxic female friendships . . . Expect a slow burn that's deliciously dark
Thrilling
Calla Henkel's Other People's Clothes is darkly funny, psychologically rich and utterly addictive. I couldn't stop turning the pages as this witty, harrowing tale of twisty female friendships, slippery identity and furtive secrets unfolded. This is a debut you won't want to miss (Megan Abbott, author of THE TURNOUT)
A knotted mystery too intriguing to leave unpicked (Alice Slater, author of DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER)
Binge-worthy . . . a brilliantly immersive and almost cinematic experience (Jenny Mustard, author of OKAY DAYS)
No reviews yet