‘Who is Gelsomina to remark on love? Much of life has never happened for her.’

Gelsomina lives inside a house made of glass. Its cold, clear form separates her from the world beyond, and her architect owners dictate the monotonous structure of her days. She yearns for something, but she does not know what.

Two creatures live inside Gelsomina, her warm flesh a vessel that contains them. They grow stronger while she begins to fade.

As time passes, the lovable French bulldog and the parasites she hosts confront questions that have vexed philosophers for centuries: Who designed this life that I am living? Do they have a plan for me? Do I have free will to live my life as I please?

A bold and inventive debut examining the structures that both comfort and constrain us, The Oldest Bitch Alive offers a poignant meditation on our search for meaning. 

'The Oldest Bitch Alive applies itself to reality in its own way: it is an ardent, juicy, brainy, filthy, massive, celebratory book about how a bulldog and some worms navigate the cosmos.' Daisy Hildyard, author of The Second Body

‘. . . The Oldest Bitch Alive is a stunning, speculative achievement. The novel plunges us into a place where worms are wise, dogs desire, and humans overlook the multispecies worlds they inhabit. Rich with biological marvels, philosophical ruminations, and poetic revelations, this novel lures the reader into a vivid sense of what it means to exist. . . ’ Stacy Alaimo, author of The Abyss Stares Back: Encounters with Deep Sea Life

'The very first vermiform novel! The Oldest Bitch Alive will worm its way into the vitreous jelly of your eyes, the hot red meat of your heart, and hatch. A manifold and manifestly astonishing debut.' Joanna Ruocco, author of Dan

'New writing I immediately love comes along only every few years. Morgan Day's The Oldest Bitch Alive is my find of the year: philosophically expansive, linguistically dexterous, formally adventurous, surprising, moving and very funny.' Joanna Walsh, author of Vertigo and My Life as a Godard Movie

'The Oldest Bitch Alive is an iridescent reminder of literature’s unique power. Morgan Day’s genius unfurls across each page, microcosm by microcosm, discovering immense depth in the gut of this small dog. Sensational, unnerving, and true.' Henry Hoke, author of Open Throat

‘Only a few pages into Morgan Day’s captivating The Oldest Bitch Alive, her reader is already comfortably seated in what will become a ride of quiet and yet spirited exhilaration. We sit back and begin to admire what we are presented. Make no mistake—Day’s splendid work can be challenging, but what are minds for if not to be challenged by a writer who is in control of the ride and her landscape? Along the way, there is language to admire (‘Seasons dress and undress the trees’), and there are ‘meditations’ (and I mean that in the best way) on everything from the meaning of cosmic to whether animals can commit suicide. At the core of this ride is the moving story of Gelsomina (and the few in her orbit), a French Bulldog making her bumpety-bump way in the lower part of a glass house, making her swollen belly way toward an end even though 'much of life has never happened to her.' It is a story we should tip our hats to.’  Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Known World

ISBN-13: 9781836750093

Weight: 184 grams

Format: Paperback

Country of Origin (language): The USA

Language: English

Pub Date: 23/04/2026

Page Extent: 208 Pages