COVER ART__The Cruelty 5-18-2025 bw IM fell english our favorite.jpg
AUTHOR PHOTO-USE THIS-Candice Hakim-Daquin.jpeg
COVER ART__The Cruelty 5-18-2025 bw IM fell english our favorite.jpg
AUTHOR PHOTO-USE THIS-Candice Hakim-Daquin.jpeg

The Cruelty by Candice Louisa Daquin (novel)

$21.99

The Cruelty focuses on the legacy of abuse. What learned behaviors from extreme abuse and mental illness can set individuals up to be controlled and manipulated to unimaginable levels. Daquin’s debut novel highlights connections between sexual abuse, sadism, extreme pornography and domestic violence. This fictional story posits the question: What if you lost everything and someone controlled your entire existence, how would you survive? 

Years after they break up, Camile’s first boyfriend, the obsessive one she broke up with, might be back in her life and she doesn’t even know it…

After a failed suicide attempt, Camile wakes up in a strange place. Drugged and disorientated by her near-death experience, she is cared for by a solicitous stranger. Camile becomes Rafael’s doll, his plaything. For a long time, Camile, drugged and ruined by her past life experiences, is unaware of the game. 

Finding out sinister circumstances of his ex-wife’s death, Camile wonders: What are the chances two women connected to him would attempt suicide? Did he really just ‘find’ her after she tried to commit suicide or did he orchestrate everything? Living with a man whom she suspects has murdered neighbors and possibly his first wife and son, how can she and her child get free when she doesn’t even remember who she is?

Who will survive her escape? Who will keep hunting her down until she’s dead? Even when she thinks it’s safe, it isn’t. It really isn’t. This has been a long game and she’s out of time…

People will often say things like: “If she knew she was in danger, why didn’t she just leave right then and there?” We might scream at TV characters in exasperation for staying, yelling out; “take the damn child and run!” But should our own lives be televised, we may come to understand, staying and leaving are not simple doors a person walks through. They are life-altering decisions, ones not lightly made when the person in question has no memory, no money, nobody to turn to and no understanding of what they are ultimately capable of … But in those cases? Those desperate times where we run with the clothes on our backs and our children in our arms, there is without exception, a sane reason we choose to leave, and such instinct should never be second-guessed … The only option was for him to think she wasn’t going anywhere because she no longer existed … Camile had escaped by being more than a victim, more than a survivor. She had to be an avenger.

The Cruelty focuses on the legacy of abuse. What learned behaviors from extreme abuse and mental illness can set individuals up to be controlled and manipulated to unimaginable levels. Daquin’s debut novel highlights connections between sexual abuse, sadism, extreme pornography and domestic violence. This fictional story posits the question: What if you lost everything and someone controlled your entire existence, how would you survive? 

Years after they break up, Camile’s first boyfriend, the obsessive one she broke up with, might be back in her life and she doesn’t even know it…

After a failed suicide attempt, Camile wakes up in a strange place. Drugged and disorientated by her near-death experience, she is cared for by a solicitous stranger. Camile becomes Rafael’s doll, his plaything. For a long time, Camile, drugged and ruined by her past life experiences, is unaware of the game. 

Finding out sinister circumstances of his ex-wife’s death, Camile wonders: What are the chances two women connected to him would attempt suicide? Did he really just ‘find’ her after she tried to commit suicide or did he orchestrate everything? Living with a man whom she suspects has murdered neighbors and possibly his first wife and son, how can she and her child get free when she doesn’t even remember who she is?

Who will survive her escape? Who will keep hunting her down until she’s dead? Even when she thinks it’s safe, it isn’t. It really isn’t. This has been a long game and she’s out of time…

People will often say things like: “If she knew she was in danger, why didn’t she just leave right then and there?” We might scream at TV characters in exasperation for staying, yelling out; “take the damn child and run!” But should our own lives be televised, we may come to understand, staying and leaving are not simple doors a person walks through. They are life-altering decisions, ones not lightly made when the person in question has no memory, no money, nobody to turn to and no understanding of what they are ultimately capable of … But in those cases? Those desperate times where we run with the clothes on our backs and our children in our arms, there is without exception, a sane reason we choose to leave, and such instinct should never be second-guessed … The only option was for him to think she wasn’t going anywhere because she no longer existed … Camile had escaped by being more than a victim, more than a survivor. She had to be an avenger.

Candice Louisa Daquin is of French/Egyptian descent. Daquin worked in publishing in Europe before immigrating to America to become a Psychotherapist. Daquin is Managing Editor with Lit Fox Books (Austin, TX) and former Senior Editor of Indie Blu(e) Publishing for 8 years. She is also co-founder of Gay Questions, a site for LGBTQ+ youth. She holds advanced degrees in writing and psychotherapy.

Daquin is Editorial Partner with Raw Earth Ink (USA) and Queer Ink (India) and is Poetry Editor at Tint Bilingual Journal, The Pine Cone Review, Writers Resist, and Parcham Literary Magazine. She also writes regularly for Difficult Truths and co-judges The Northwind Writing Award and the Silent River Poetry Prize. Daquin is a former Writer-in-Residence for Borderless Journal; as well as former Consultant Editor for Blackbird Press. She’s also guest-edited SETU Bilingual Journal and written for the poetry periodical Rattle, SoFloPoJo, World Literature Today, and The Northern Poetry Review. 

Daquin is co-editor of the award winning anthologies SMITTEN This Is What Love Looks Like: Poetry by Women for Women, The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess Within / Indian Women's Voices. Her latest collection is Tainted by the Same Counterfeit (Finishing Line Press). As a queer immigrant woman of passionate feminist beliefs concerning equality, Daquin's work and support of others, is her body of evidence.

 

“Daquin’s debut novel The Cruelty, is outstanding in its perception of human-nature and the writers’ innate awareness of the depravity of certain human behavior. This taut psychological thriller will keep you guessing and guessing, it's got the addictive quality of a best-seller, with the finesse of a writer who knows how to capture and keep her audience. This is a crucial book in our war against intimate violence and a brilliant read.”

—Megha Sood, Poet and Literary Activist. author of award-winning collection, My Body Lives Like a Threat.

“If you are disturbed by the things humans are capable of, The Cruelty doesn’t pull any punches, but this isn’t a horror novel, if you turn on the news you will see similar examples every day. Women are still the #1 victim of domestic and sexual abuse. Previous abuse, sets anyone up for future abuse. Until we understand this legacy, we cannot find ways to curb it. The Cruelty does a really thorough job of exploring this challenging subject with deep insights. As much as this is a work of fiction, there are many strands of lived truth, readers will be disquieted by. We need these kinds of books to cut a pathway through old tropes. The Cruelty is a fantastically exciting novel where you hold your breath hoping the protagonist will survive against literally all the odds. The unexpected twists and psychological depths are fascinating, terrifying and ultimately redemptive.”

—Dr. Belinda Román, Professor, Committee Member with International Federation for Feminist Economics.

“As a big fan of psychological fiction written from the stance of a woman, I found The Cruelty an intelligent, feminist expose of modern culture. With a fascinating female lead, I was on the edge of my seat cheering her on. Through the brutality of her experience, she grows in front of our eyes and fights back in ways unimaginable. I didn’t see the ending coming, I don’t think anyone can. Finally! A great book that has a finely crafted ending. Bravo! There is absolutely nothing disappointing about this riveting thriller.”

—Elizabeth Green, Psychotherapist. 

“As a man, I found The Cruelty, a sobering read; evidencing the hideous reality of male-on-female-violence. Whilst disturbing; the novel didn’t seek to blame all men, but rather, a society that spawns monsters of any gender. This equality in handling such a tricky subject, is hard to successfully wrangle, but Daquin’s writing is stunning, in its precision and comprehension of human nature. This isn’t a book that blames men, it’s a book about survival, for all survivors.”

—Eric Syrdal, Author, Pantheon.

“The Cruelty kept me on tender-hooks. Its ability to pierce the inner-lives of survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, so viscerally, alongside an incredibly beautiful writing style, is riveting and wholly original. What Daquin’s managed to do with her fiercely feminist debut novel is nothing short of outstanding. As a voice for her generation and for women, she’s accurately nailed the reality behind sexual violence and given us an unforgettable story of survival, that’s ultimately both redemptive and hopeful. Watch this author, she’s the real deal.”

—Rebecca Huston, Screenwriter & Author, Prytain, and Legenderie.