Synopsis
A dark and magical tale of ballrooms and bloodshed in the Gilded Age, from multi-award winning fantasy author Nghi Vo.
Judith Ban – convent girl, courtesan, and failed thief – is looking for her next identity. She’s no stranger to wealth or danger, but the glitter of New York’s Gilded Age hides a darkness even she has never imagined. Here, the city’s elite maintain their grip through opulent balls, whispered rituals, and marriages with demons hungry for human devotion.
When she crosses paths with the formidable matriarch of the Howard family, Judith is offered an irresistible to take the place of a missing debutante in the coming season. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith becomes white, rich, and ready to risk it all. If she can hold onto her charm, her wits, and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power.
But in a world ruled by appetite and ambition, the most dangerous hunger of all might be her own.
Review
Nghi Vo remains one of my all-time favourite authors with another fantastic book
I adore her Singing Hills Cycle novellas, and City of Glass was a treat when I read it earlier this year.
The Gilded Age is not a historical time period I have any interest in, so I was unsure whether or not this would be a book that worked for me. Apparently, anything Nghi Vo writes just works for me.
It is deliciously haunting, dark, horror-esque at times, with a building sense of tension throughout. Judith is an exceptional protagonist, who is naive but not innocent, headstrong but not arrogant, and confident with what she wants to get. The perfect person to be inserted into this game of old money New York and the debutante season.
She is power-hungry and strong enough to hold her own against forces of nature, literal and metaphorical, and I was gripped from the opening to the epilogue.
The story is supported by a great cast of memorable characters, from Mr. and Mrs. Howard, to Mielle and Sebastian. It never quite went where I was expecting, which is true of all Vo’s work, and the novelty of concept and the exceptional execution (is it possible to bathe in her prose??) meant I could not rate this anything less than five stars.
Superb on every count!
Thank you to Libro.FM for the ALC (part of October)
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