youthjuice: A Novel BY E.K. Sathue

Youthjuice is a chilling and darkly comedic horror debut by former beauty editor E.K. Sathue, set in the glossy yet sinister world of high-end skincare. The story follows Sophia Bannion, who lands a coveted position on the Storytelling team at HEBE, a luxury skincare and wellness company in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood. Despite the glamour surrounding her new job, Sophia quickly senses something is off at HEBE. However, she’s willing to overlook the red flags, as she’s grappling with her own issues—a flat, unfulfilling life, and a brutal nail-biting habit she can’t kick.

Sophia becomes increasingly enamored with the HEBE lifestyle, particularly with youthjuice, a new moisturizer that HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO, Tree Whitestone, personally asks her to test. The product is fatty, soothing, and seemingly miraculous. But as Sophia delves deeper into the company’s operations, she discovers disturbing cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure and the horrifying truth about the secret ingredient in youthjuice.

Faced with the gruesome reality, Sophia must decide how far she’s willing to go to maintain her beauty and the life she’s grown addicted to. Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, youthjuice is a razor-sharp satire on the beauty industry and the dark side of female friendship.

Described as “Lena Dunham’s Girls meets Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop meets Mona Awad’s Bunny meets … Elizabeth Bthory,” youthjuice is a cautionary tale that will leave readers questioning their own skincare routines. Zoje Stage, USA Today bestselling author of Baby Teeth, calls it “a darkly comedic cautionary tale, oozing with voice.” You’ll never moisturize the same way again.