Genre: Fiction | Crime | Domestic Drama
Release Date: Expected 13th April 2023
Publisher: Penguin Random House | Michael Joseph
Jen almost died. And now the community that should be comforting her is condemning her for surviving, for trying to claim her body as her own.
Isobel has spent her life learning to be a daughter, a wife, a mother but never learning to be herself because it didn't matter. Now without a husband, who could she possibly hope to be?
Zelda lives a life full of sin, according to some. She's haunted by her past, especially when an unwelcome ghost from the past suddenly appears at her front door.
These three women may all be linked through the same religious community, but soon they will discover they all share something else much more important - a sisterhood. But can that be enough to ever let them really be free?
You change every single day, but you don't see it. Little by little. Until one day, you're completely transformed.
I'm going to start by saying this - this is a horror story. Not one with ghosts and full moons, but one even more terrifying because this is about the monsters that exist outside of nightmares. It is a searing statement about the dystopian hellscape that is reality for many women who live under the rule of religious fanaticism and fascism. To a lot of people, it might sound like something only from a speculative fiction story, but it's very real.
The tone of this story is deeply personal - we immediately find our narrators with their conversational, thoughtful, strong voices coupled with beautifully poetic prose that creates an image of a utopia around you only to burn it all down. We change perspective between our three main characters, in diarised or retrospective styles with excerpts of propaganda and media littered throughout that creates a fully realised setting. Each chapter moves quickly, giving us bursts of action and emotion before switching seamlessly to the next moment.
Zelda, Isobel and Jen all had such unique stories - their voices were clear and distinct even down to their visual style. They all had very different lives, wanted different things, were indoctrinated to different extremes - but as the stories wove together you knew they were all part of something bigger just waiting to take shape. Despite the demands made of them, they are not flawless, soft, compliant women - they can be abrasive, sharp, strong - angry at a world that clearly isn't made for them and desperate for a way to survive.
The world in this tale is rife with sexism, religious zealotry, hatred - it feels like a dystopian fairy-tale but is a reality for too many - and could be for anyone all too easily. And knowing this makes the utter realism of this story so compelling and vivid.
This book is an unrelenting war cry; a shout to rally the troops. And a warning about the very real threats that imprison too many women across the world even today, the same ones that could get you before you've even noticed they've closed the cell door behind you. This book is a timely reminder that we need to remain connected, to our sisters and to our humanity, if we're going to survive.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
cw: abortion, religious, pregnancy, fertility, childbirth, sex, death, sexual assault, sexism, hospitals, infidelity, religious control.
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