The Unworthy
In a climate-collapsed world, a woman called only "the unworthy" lives inside the Sacred Sisterhood, a violent religious order that punishes literacy with mutilation. She steals paper and writes by candlelight, hiding her diary inside the walls. The book moves between her current life inside the convent, where the Sisters perform escalating rituals to determine which of them will become the next "Saint of the Sword," and memories of the dying world she fled to enter the order in the first place. Bazterrica builds the cult from the inside, page by hidden page.
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What you might want to know about The Unworthy
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A woman trapped inside a violent post-collapse religious order writes a forbidden diary by candlelight in the 2025 follow-up to Tender Is the Flesh.
Yes. Both novels are by Agustina Bazterrica and share her dystopian, body-horror sensibility. Tender Is the Flesh (2017) focuses on cannibalism and meat industry; The Unworthy (2024) is post-apocalyptic religious horror.
The Unworthy uses a fragmented diary structure with interrupted text and unreliable narration. The form is intentional and rewards attention. The content is bleak and sustained.
The Unworthy was written by Agustina Bazterrica, published in 2023 by Alfaguara.
The Unworthy is a standalone novel by Agustina Bazterrica, not part of a series.
The Unworthy is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.