A wealthy new mother drowning in postpartum depression signs on for a black-market body enhancement—but when she starts sprouting leaves instead of confidence, her transformation becomes everybody's business but her own.

In near-future Texas, where summer temperatures soar and only the wealthy can afford to stay cool, Pamela Anderson (not that one) has everything she's supposed to want: a devoted husband, a beautiful baby, and enough money to keep the air conditioning running. After a lifetime of running from herself, she's finally put down some roots. There's just one problem - she spends every night trying to bury herself alive.

When her nocturnal attempts at self-entombment spiral into total withdrawal, Pam is offered a black-market procedure promising to genetically turn her into her "best self" which takes Pam’s desperate search for contentment down an unsettling and irreversible path. When tree leaves begin sprouting from her body rather than confidence, her family braces for the worst while simultaneously monetizing her metamorphosis. With humanity slipping away on all fronts, Pam must confront what it truly means to change.

Perfect for fans of Jeff VanderMeer's "Annihilation" and Ottessa Moshfegh's "My Year of Rest and Relaxation.”

Darkly comic and deeply human, "A Modern Growth" branches into territory both hilarious and horrifying.

A MODERN GROWTH