RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewAn ancient narrative shimmers through Evgenia Citkowitz’s intricately constructed debut novel, which tells the thrilling story of a modern British family haunted by ghosts of its own making. Written in cool and crystalline prose, The Shades unspools in a rational and realistic world in which all is not as it seems ... Citkowitz’s narrative flows seamlessly from past to present, folding time into pleats, shaking them gracefully loose ... a twist at the end, too moving and shrewd to reveal, may require a larger suspension of disbelief ... There are only a few misfires ... The novel’s ending clicks elegantly in sync with the beginning and holds a koan. If a living shade is shocked joyously awake and then, like poor Eurydice, is denied a second chance, does it matter that the shade awoke?
Emma Cline
PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewEmma Cline’s first novel, The Girls, is a seductive and arresting coming-of-age story hinged on Charles Manson, told in sentences at times so finely wrought they could almost be worn as jewelry...What results is a historical novel that goes halfway down the rabbit hole and exquisitely reports back. Then it pulls out, eschewing the terrifying, fascinating human murk. Still, it’s a spellbinding story...
