Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Someone You Can Build a Nest In (2024) is a fantasy romance novel by John Wiswell. The narrative follows Shesheshen, a shapeshifting monster who lives alone on the margins of a town named Underlook. When she encounters a compassionate human woman named Homily, their unexpected bond challenges Shesheshen’s ideas about survival and family. The novel uses the conventions of dark fantasy and body horror to examine social alienation and the nature of love between fundamentally different beings.

The book was a critical success and was named a Best Book of 2024 by NPR, The Washington Post, Library Journal, and Audible. It also won the 2025 Locus Award for Best First Novel and the 2025 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Wiswell writes science fiction and fantasy and has previously won a Nebula Award and a Locus Award for his short fiction. He is a disabled and neurodivergent author, and his personal experiences inform the novel’s exploration of The Psychological Costs of Masking and Identity Performance.

This guide refers to the 2025 DAW Books trade paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text and guide feature depictions of death, graphic violence, animal cruelty, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and ableism.

Plot Summary

Shesheshen, a shapeshifting monster who constructs the frame of her body from scavenged bones, is prematurely awakened from hibernation by three monster hunters in her lair. Though they are ignorant of her presence, she eavesdrops on the mercenaries Rourke and Malik and their arrogant employer, Catharsis Wulfyre. They call her the Wyrm of Underlook and are discussing a plan to use rosemary oil to attack her. Since rosemary oil is toxic to Shesheshen, she is desperate to stop them. Weak from hibernation, she disguises herself as a human girl named Roislin and claims that the monster has kept her captive. She tries to mislead the monster hunters by saying that rosemary oil is ineffective against the monster, instead advising them to go in search of a certain flowering plant that is harmful to the wyrm. However, Catharsis dismisses her plan, insisting on using Roislin herself as live bait. He grabs her with his gauntlets that are coated in rosemary oil, burning her flesh. Shesheshen retaliates by vomiting a bear trap she has hidden in her chest, severing Catharsis’s hand. As he flees, Catharsis shoots her with a hooked crossbow bolt laced with rosemary oil. His men abandon him, and Shesheshen consumes him, using his bones and blood to heal. Needing more sustenance to counteract the poison, she travels to the nearby town of Underlook, still disguised as Roislin. Her giant blue bear companion, Blueberry, carries her until she is close to town.

In Underlook, Shesheshen finds the town celebrating her supposed death at the hands of the monster hunters. A merchant named Laurent approaches her and flirts with her, revealing that he believes the Wyrm of Underlook is a hoax. However, Rourke and Malik arrive, announcing that the monster is still alive, and Malik recognizes Shesheshen. She steals Laurent’s horse and flees with a posse pursuing her. The chase leads to a deep ravine where her frightened horse throws her into the chasm below.

Shesheshen awakens at the bottom of the ravine, and she discovers that a kind woman named Homily has pulled her from the river. Homily has removed the crossbow bolt, sutured her wounds, and tended to her injuries. Weak and suspicious, Shesheshen gives her name as “Siobhan” and secretly plans to kill Homily once she recovers. Homily offers to take “Siobhan” to recover at the Red Dragon Inn in Underlook.

Upon arrival, Shesheshen notices the townspeople actively ostracizing Homily. A letter offering Homily free lodging upsets her deeply, and she abruptly leaves the room they are sharing. The narrative later reveals that Homily is Catharsis’s sister, which is why the townspeople are avoiding her: They fear the Wulfyres and do not want to break the news to her that her brother is dead. After resting, Shesheshen searches for Homily and finds her at a town dance, sitting alone and surrounded by empty tables. Determined to comfort her, Shesheshen asks her to dance. She and Homily share a dance, during which Shesheshen realizes she has fallen in love, imagining Homily as a perfect “nest” for her eggs. She convinces Homily to leave the hostile town with her.

Their journey is interrupted by three masked bandits who claim they are working for the Wulfyre family. When they threaten the women, Homily attacks and is wounded in the fight. Shesheshen reveals her monstrous form and kills the bandits, though she ensures that Homily doesn’t see her. They arrive at Shesheshen’s lair, where she heals Homily’s shoulder by grafting her own flesh onto the wound. Homily then reveals she is Homily Wulfyre. She explains that her family believes they are cursed by the Wyrm of Underlook, which is killing them one by one, and she needs the wyrm’s heart to break the curse. Shesheshen is horrified and lacks the courage to confess her true identity.

Shesheshen and Homily return to Underlook to meet Homily’s younger sister Epigram and their mother, the Baroness Wulfyre, who have arrived to hunt the wyrm. Shesheshen is shocked to see the Baroness wearing a necklace of steel fangs; these fangs are Shesheshen’s only memory of her own mother. The Baroness claims she took it from the monster she killed, and Shesheshen secretly decides to avenge her mother’s death. The Baroness also cruelly blames Homily for Catharsis’s death, claiming he fought bravely while Homily did nothing. When Shesheshen observes Homily hurting, she feels a sharp pain in her own chest. Later, she discovers she is bleeding her own blood for the first time and has also grown a painful, heart-like organ. She is puzzled by this since her kind typically don’t have hearts; the narrative will later reveal that this isn’t a heart but an egg sac. Meanwhile, the Baroness announces her plan to find the wyrm by burning the entire forest and, if necessary, bombing the town.

The Wulfyre hunting party camps in the forest. Epigram captures Blueberry to use as bait to draw the monster out. When Shesheshen joins a night patrol, a new monster attacks: It is a grotesque creature with three deer skulls and legs made of branches. The creature rushes to the main camp, where it kills Ode, the Baroness’s youngest daughter, before escaping. In the confusion, Shesheshen manages to release Blueberry. Back at her lair, she realizes the deer-skull creature is her asexual offspring, created from bits of her flesh that she left in her basement. She also discovers that the organ in her chest is an egg sac that urges her to implant her eggs in Homily where her offspring can grow by devouring their host.

Epigram comes up with a plan to use Homily as live bait, but Shesheshen creates a diversion and offers herself instead. The offspring appears, but the Baroness attacks it. Shesheshen seemingly kills the Baroness, but she reanimates, revealing that she is one of Shesheshen’s kind and her creator. The Baroness explains she must consume Shesheshen’s egg sac to prolong her own life; afterward, she plans to kill Homily or Epigram and wear their body as a disguise. Shesheshen bombs the Baroness and escapes. Returning to camp, she confesses her true identity to a person she believes is Homily, but it turns out to be Epigram wearing Homily’s cloak. Epigram shoots Shesheshen with a poisoned bolt. Then, she calls Homily in to see Shesheshen’s true form, revealing that the family curse is a lie their mother made up to destroy the monster. Instead of killing Shesheshen as Epigram demands, Homily slits her sister’s throat.

To heal, Shesheshen consumes Epigram’s corpse and assumes her form as a disguise. She and Homily return to Underlook, where the Baroness is bombing the town. They publicly confront her, sowing doubt about her true identity among her followers. As they corner her, the offspring intervenes by attacking the Baroness, creating a diversion that allows Shesheshen to flee. Shesheshen lures the Baroness into a cellar and tricks her into consuming Shesheshen’s egg sac, which is poisoned with rosemary wine. The mortally wounded Baroness stumbles into the street, where Homily, monster hunter Malik, and the townspeople kill her, believing the wyrm has assumed the Baroness’s form. Homily rescues Shesheshen and the offspring from the cellar.

Shesheshen and Homily begin a new life together, raising the offspring, whom Homily names Epilogue. They struggle with healing from trauma as Homily suffers nightmares and Epilogue acts out violently, driven by a resentful desire to be reabsorbed by Shesheshen. As autumn approaches, Shesheshen’s body prepares for hibernation, making her weak and irritable, and she worries about leaving Homily alone with the volatile Epilogue before her body finally shuts down. Homily helps her to the hot spring where she hibernates. After a fitful hibernation, she awakens to find Homily and Epilogue waiting for her. Homily explains they bonded over the winter and were united in their desire for Shesheshen’s return.