Nobody has a “normal” family; but Vesper Wright’s is truly… something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back―mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.
Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother; Constance; a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret; she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.
Dark bleatings my lovely tribe! I’m here to bleat about this magnificent novel today because I recently read it and I’m rather obsessed. I’ll start with no spoilers but there are a couple of details I really want to discuss that are in spoiler territory, so I’ll put those right at the very end after the sales link, and I’ll warn you again that they’re coming before I *officially* sign off.
At the beginning of the book, we meet our first-person protagonist, Vesper, and quickly learn that she moved away from her home, family, and friends, and cut off communication with them all. We’re told that she didn’t share their faith, that all her loved ones take their religion seriously, and that to leave the church is basically total ex-communication in the sense that you can never return. We also learn that Vesper works as a waitress (presumably earning the bare minimum), having to deal with pervy customers, and despite her mother being a famous horror film star, this is the life she prefers.
I was so intrigued by all of this – mostly information given in the first chapter – that I could not put the book down. I was so curious about the inner strife that Vesper must have felt to give up everyone she loved to live a harder life, and was compelled by what was going on besides her lack of faith. Then she receives an invitation to return home, and I was rubbing my goaty little hooves together in anticipation.
There are a number of revelations throughout this book that had me grinning, practically bouncing in my seat with excited joy. There are certain things that I absolutely love in horror fiction, and also a number things that – despite my best efforts in hunting for them – I can just never find, at least not the way I’m hoping for. This book ticked all the “OH I LOVE THIS!” boxes, and also the “OH MY GOD I FINALLY FOUND IT!” boxes (thank you Abominable Book Club for including this book in your last monthly subscription box, lest I might never have found it!).
The author does such a great job of painting the characters and their dynamics, and also the community. I had such a clear vision of everyone and their interactions and in a way, it made me sort of feel like I was also part of the community. It felt wholesome and nice. Which, if you’ve already read this, you’ll understand is a confusing and mildly alarming feeling to get from this novel.
For me, this novel has it all; great characters, great horror, great character work, brilliant revelations and the occasional surprise, and and and other stuff I can’t say until I hit the spoiler section! I’d definitely recommend it to horror fans, especially people who enjoy outsider/underdog stories, and religious horror.
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, there are some links below. Be warned that beneath these links, I AM GOING INTO SPOILER TERRITORY, so if you don’t want to see that, stop reading here. Bleeeeeat!
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Okay, it’s just you guys that don’t mind a few spoilers, right?
OH MY GOD YOU GUYS! I assumed, naturally, that the church in question pertained to one of Christian faith, because that’s always the case in these types of stories. I would have been happy enough with that. But they’re Satanists, a full-on Satanic community that, by day, float around in nice summery outfits, cracking jokes, and generally being sweet and wholesome (for the most part), and then by night you might find them beneath ground in a Satanic temple, perhaps slaughtering a lamb. My dudes, my heart skipped several beats when I read the words “Hail Satan!” My excitement was uncontainable. I think I actually punched my fist into the air.
I bloody love Baphomet. I have no religious affiliation myself so, to me, Satan is just a fictitious character. But they are my VERY FAVOURITE fictitious character, and one I hardly ever get to see in books or film, and even when I do, they’re rarely depicted in a way that has me grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I loved how surprisingly but perfectly this concept was just folded into the narrative. The picture of the perfect community – the kind of people that I just could not believe Vesper would leave for any reason – praying to the Dark Lord… it was just… it made me live deliciously.
I very much loved how Vesper’s mother and auntie were depicted. Vesper’s mother is a cold, movie-star, ice-queen. The kind of woman draped in gothic fashion that exudes glamour, and even though she’s a dick, you think she’s kind of fabulous. Her sister (Vesper’s auntie) is a warm and friendly woman who enjoys cooking for Vesper, and is always quick to follow up any cold moments with some warmth and love. They totally reminded me of Hilda and Zelda from the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The more I think about this story – and I’m thinking about it non-stop – the more of the details I love. I think Harrison told this story beautifully. There were a lot of little unsaid details for me to work out, with subtle clues woven in. For example, the reason Vesper’s mother has always been so unemotional with her, so un-motherly. I love that Harrison trusted the reader to just follow the breadcrumbs to conclusions, without feeling the need afterwards to explicitly confirm our thoughts.
I don’t want to ruin the entire book for you, so I’m stopping there for now. But please, if anyone wants to talk about this book with me… I BEG YOU! I’m dying to talk about it more with people who’ve read it!
Bleeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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