Synopsis:
The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy’s twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband’s grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s condition, but it’s clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.
Then, the worst happens. Sarah’s behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry… and hungry.
Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.
Review:
Hello again dear reader or listener, let me tell you about the latest book to keep me up so late I heard the morning birds begin to sing before I realized I should probably go to sleep (it was 5 am). Unfortunately, I can’t really do it justice, but I’ll try my best.
With thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for granting my NetGalley request, here are my honest thoughts.
You might not know this about me, dear reader, but I am a big fan of all things Gothic, and I don’t mean the romanticized or sanitized idea of Gothic or Victorian which can be entertaining to an extent. I mean the gritty, bewildering, harrowing, enthralling, and hauntingly dark, true Gothic. So it was with immense pleasure that I found Johanna van Veen’s new book, Blood on Her Tongue, met those expectations to the fullest. In fact, I might argue that van Veen has raised the bar on what Gothic Horror ought to be. Just make sure to heed her warnings at the beginning.
This book feels like watching a Robert Eggers movie, more specifically Nosferatu (and not merely for the vampiric elements), but even better. Just as promised in her author’s note, van Veen weaves such a rich and thick atmosphere that you can cut it with a knife (or a fountain pen, iykyk), and it is, for lack of a better word but still very apt, delicious. Her prose is lyrical and Romantic, optimally paced to build up suspense and dread until it finally delivers macabre blows that leave your ears ringing. In the best way. Even knowing what you are in for does not prepare you for the visceral emotions this book will draw forth, and they will be many.
Truly all of the research that went into writing this story shines through, showing unapologetically and without any restraint the realities of women in the late 19th century who dared show anything even resembling emotion and wit past what was deemed acceptable in polite society.
Whether the disquieting happenings are supernatural or the product of a very sick mind, the true horrors lie not only in body horror or violence but in the stigmatization of the mentally ill, and in the harrowing lack of agency or power granted to women by those who deem themselves as above. I use the word granted here on purpose as well, because just as the protagonist slowly and painfully realizes it herself, the reader is fully aware that she is not among allies in a society that sees women as ornamental and with only utilitarian purposes (e.g. child bearing and housekeeping) at best.
What I found exceptionally rendered here is that, if you’re a female reader, you catch on to all of the above straight away, because well, no need to state the obvious, but, if you’re not, the author has done such a subtle and expert working in of all the details to well and truly display this that it is impossible for you to not be fully immersed in the terror, resentment, pain, helplessness, and anger, and understand it all fully.
Not for the faint of heart, Blood on Her Tongue claws its way into you and doesn’t let go till the extremely satisfying ending, because I support women’s rights but boy do I support women’s wrongs in such contexts. You might feel like you should be looking away at times while being utterly unable to do so in what is potentially one the most thorough, raw, powerful yet sensitive but no holds barred, portrayal of hysteria, both as it was understood and weaponized (because van Veen absolutely goes there and Good For Her) at the time, and how we understand it now.
This is a story about power dynamics, about true heartbreak, about all the good and the bad in sibling relationships, especially those teetering on the codependent, and about all the ugly and hidden feelings we carry and might act on. It is rife with themes one could discuss for hours, be it its place within Queer literature, the narrative use of sex and sensuality, the patronizing nature of those that mean well but actually do more harm, about the way each character reveals their true self under pressure, and about what does one do once such a revelation is made?
It is a story about extremes in a world that abhors them, and it is a story about a woman who tries to navigate it all trying to remain sane and eventually having to decide what that even means or if it’s worth holding on to.
If you enjoy Gothic horror, sharp social commentary, intelligent explorations of character and psychology and dynamics, or even if you just want an evening full of transporting storytelling, you will love Blood on Her Tongue. I can’t recommend it enough.
Just be wary gazing into the dark too long, it has teeth. Until next time,
Elen A.E.
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