A twisting narrative of the horrors of patriarchal subordination that will appeal to fans of classic gothic novels.
Noyes’ Nordic gothic follows two young sisters on a small Swedish island shadowed by witchcraft trials four generations earlier.
Berggrund Island in 1825 is a quiet, pious community with a haunting past: In 1675, the village priest coerced two orphans into accusing several women of consorting with the devil in Blockula, the “shadow realm” of an uninhabited nearby island called the Blue Maiden. This kicked off a chain of accusations that culminated in the murders of nearly 30 women. Six-year-old Beata and 10-year-old Ulrika are descendants of the only accused woman spared from death (not by any grace toward her, but because she was pregnant). Their father, Silas, the current priest, is a somber man who dismisses whispers of Blockula as superstition, but Bea and Ulrika become fascinated with witches all the same. This obsession bleeds into the girls’ greatest desire: to connect with their dead mother, Angelique. Both pursuits are forbidden in their father’s home, but, as they grasp at feminine knowledge—rifling through their mother’s things and attempting to cast their own spells—the girls increasingly suspect that Angelique had her share of secrets. It is the arrival of handsome mainlander August that propels the girls into womanhood, a place far less glamorous than they once believed. This debut novel churns with the smell of sea-damp wool, day-old bread, and elderflower-scented smoke. This is a place steeped in tradition, yet, for Bea, who surfaces as the protagonist, “history…is too far removed to feel real. What matters is its lore: Be good, or the witch will take you.” The girls must accept that the hushed stories—the bits of history blotted from the lore—are even more foreboding in their absence. While the narrative is quite fragmentary, Berggrund and its inhabitants are alluring; Noyes’ rich descriptions create a setting that, in all its consuming bleakness, is perfect for a story about the burdens of generational and gendered trauma.
A twisting narrative of the horrors of patriarchal subordination that will appeal to fans of classic gothic novels.Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9780802162809
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.
What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?
In the first page and a half of her latest page-turner, bestselling Australian author Moriarty introduces a large cast of fascinating characters, all seated on a flight to Sydney that’s delayed on the tarmac. There’s the “bespectacled hipster” with his arm in a cast; a very pregnant woman; a young mom with a screaming infant and a sweaty toddler; a bride and groom, still in their wedding clothes; a surly 6-year-old forced to miss a laser-tag party; a darling elderly couple; a chatty tourist pair; several others. No one even notices the woman who will later become a household name as the “Death Lady” until she hops up from her seat and begins to deliver predictions to each of them about the age they’ll be when they die and the cause of their deaths. Age 30, assault, for the hipster. Age 7, drowning, for the baby in arms. Age 43, workplace accident, for a 42-year-old civil engineer. Self-harm, age 28, for the lovely flight attendant, who is that day celebrating her 28th birthday. Over the next 126 chapters (some just a paragraph), you will get to know all these people, and their reactions to the news of their demise, very well. Best of all, you will get to know Cherry Lockwood, the Death Lady, and the life that brought her to this day. Is it true, as she repeatedly intones on the plane, that “fate won’t be fought”? Does this novel support the idea that clairvoyance is real? Does it find a means to logically dismiss the whole thing? Or is it some complex amalgam of these possibilities? Sorry, you won’t find that out here, and in fact not until you’ve turned all 500-plus pages. The story is a brilliant, charming, and invigorating illustration of its closing quote from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (we’re not going to spill that either).
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593798607
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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