Synopsis:
During one of the most violent battles of the Civil War, three brothers fighting for the Confederate army decide to go AWOL and make their way home, willing to risk execution rather than be killed in a losing war. After several exhausting weeks of rough terrain, the brothers find a miracle deep in the dark woods: a homestead. Living in this remote cabin is a beautiful woman, Sarafina, and her young son, Titus. She takes the soldiers in, feeds them, offers them a place to rest. But the youngest brother is wary—something seems off. As the days pass, he discovers a mysterious creek, a strange underground cavern, and a strong sense that the cabin and the surrounding fertile land are not what they seem. The brothers soon find themselves in a new battle, an escalation of horrors they must somehow fight to survive.
Review:
My first experience with Philip Fracassi was last year’s The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, a fun gereatric take on the slasher genre. I loved Rose as the lead in that book and wrote last year how the tight narrative kept me engaged for one of my favorite books of 2025. Fracassi is back with a full release of his historical horror Sarafina, originally published by Earthling Publications back in 2024 as a limited release. As both a fan of Fracassi’s writing and as a history teacher, I was thrilled to get into Sarafina, and I can say it’s definitely worth your time.
Let’s start with the history teacher aspect. Right off the bat, we’re thrust into the gruesome and bloody Battle of Shiloh (or Pittsburg Landing if you’re from the South) in early April of 1862. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have suspected that the “horror” aspect of Sarafina was the brutality of the conflict between the Blues and the Grays. We’re introduced to three brothers — Ethan (our first-person POV character for most of the book), Archie, and Mason. Somehow, even in the confusion of battle, they survive, but come to the conclusion that deserting and taking their chances on the run is better than the terror they’ve witnessed already on the battlefield.
On their way home, there are a few moments that feel a bit like The Odyssey or Huckleberry Finn — characters on a wayward journey bouncing from one situation into another. But then, being chased by the Confederate Home Guard, the three boys find their way across a strange creek and a land that seemingly defies seasons and time. There they encounter Sarafina and a young boy, Titus.
For a while, it seems as though these three boys may have wandered into a fairy tale — ala Hansel and Gretal coming across a house made from candy. Sarafina is a balm in the midst of the terrifying chaos of the U.S. Civil War and the fate that awaits deserters in the middle of it. She knows just what they need at the very moment they need it, giving the three brothers a place to rest and recharge — if they can ever leave, that is.
What Fracassi gives us, though, is much more nuanced and rich in its backstory. Something ancient and even biblical. Something that defies logic. That even as the madness of the Civil War blooms and blasts all around, there is something even more sinister hiding in the American South. Forget who is Sarafina? What is Sarafina? Something timeless and eldritch? At first, the boys are simply glad to find a bit of calm in a country that is ripping itself apart, but the longer they stay the more Sarafina is changing them. We see all this from Ethan’s perspective, seeing his feelings and thoughts of his two brothers slightly cloud what’s happening to them.
Eventually, Ethan manages to get away and head back to his twin sister, Ellie, and his father, whose abusive behavior ever since the death of Ethan’s mother causes generational trauma for each of the children. And here is about where I’m going to stop talking about the narrative for fear of spoiling this delightfully unsettling work. I’ll say that there is a moment towards the end where Fracassi could have stayed the course of where he was going and it would have been perfectly understandable and, in fact, probably more popular with readers. But Philip Fracassi takes a swing with the ending, bringing Ellie into the story with way more agency then the reader is expecting. At first, it seems like she’s just a sidekick for Ethan, but when that moment happens, I realized Fracassi was dropping a lot more breadcrumbs for the true nature of this story than I thought. It made the ending way more expected and frankly one that I’ll be thinking about for a long time.
One more brief history note — there are two brothers who are generally not taught about in schools. Back in the late 1700’s, there were two brothers who went by “Big” Harpe and “Little” Harpe. Look ‘em up — you’ll find they are generally regarded as America’s first serial killers. They operated in the Natchez Trace between Tennessee and Mississippi and got away with countless killings for years. I like to teach about them at times in my classes at school, but I’m probably the exception. So I was privately thrilled when a certain character in Sarafina reveals a connection with the killer brothers (without, I believe, even mentioning their name). As a history teacher — thanks Philip!
I had a great time with Sarafina, even the parts that made me uncomfortable and unsettled. The way life is depicted in the American South during the time of the Civil War is spot-on, but then dropping in the horror of an amplified version of one of the Brothers Grimm Fairytales into the mix? Loved it.
Thank you to CLASH Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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