Debut Novel Out Now


CAKE EATER

The Cake Eater book cover. It shows Marie Antoinette gazing anxiously into a vanity mirror with her phone poised. There are flowers, makeup, and cakes on the vanity. The title is bold and says CAKE EATER. Allyson Dahlin. Blue and pink colors

Decadent, thrilling, and romantic, this Black Mirror-esque retelling of the reign of one Marie Antoinette is perfect for fans of The Belles and American Royals.

The year is 3070, and Marie Antoinette has just arrived at the glittering, thrilling palace of Versailles to marry the shy, soft-spoken Louis-Auguste.

But beneath the luxurious world lies a sinister underbelly and an uncompromising elite who want to keep Marie and Louis pawns in a deadly game.

Will history repeat itself? Or will these doomed lovers outwit their enemies and escape their grisly fate?

Cake Eater will take readers to a dazzling world full of breathless luxuries, deadly secrets, and a thrilling romance that attempts to rewrite history itself. 

Cake Eater's cyberpunk reimagining of Marie Antoinette whisks you into the dazzling neon-lit world of far future Versailles only to peel back layer after layer of unnerving truths. A bittersweet story about one girl's struggle against the tragic cycles of human greed and human history.

— Xiran Jay Zhao, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Iron Widow

With a love story for the ages, this vivid tale takes the history we know and recasts it into an exciting, technicolor, future world that challenges what we know here in the present, and how we know it. I loved it! I couldn't put it down!

— Beth Revis, New York Times bestselling author of the Across the Universe trilogy

"Viciously sharp, Cake Eater is part-mystery, part-thriller, and part rom-com. Biting and unflinching, Cake Eater is unlike any YA book I have ever read."

Lillie Lainoff, author of One for All

“The slow blossoming of the royal romance will break readers’ hearts… Intriguing and imaginative.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“No history textbook is required to drop right into this colorful, fully realized world and fall for Marie and her love for her new husband, Louis… the witty banter jumps off the page and keeps readers engaged.”

— School Library Journal


“[A] frenetic combination of rococo aesthetics and modern social commentary. A completely singular read.”

— Publishers Weekly

Praise for Cake Eater

About Allyson

Allyson Dahlin grew up on a farm, raised by a Francophile father who influenced her fascination with the real Marie and Louis. She worked for a time as a counselor at a boarding school for girls with complex trauma and then as an SEO ninja, which involves copywriting, a little editing, and believe it or not, no martial arts. She lives with a professor and a corgi in beautiful upstate New York. Cake Eater is her first novel.

Photo by Laura Wozniak. A head shot of the author looking off camera. She's wearing a striped pink shirt and a leather jacket.