Outstanding ... Uncomfortably familiar ... A subtle, clever riff on a vampire story ... Purvis is adept at conjuring a mounting sense of dread, and it is a pleasure to linger in her imagination. Her attention to the natural world...is a marvel ... But her greatest creations are the sisters.
Eerie ... I thought it was really interesting that we never get the girls’ perspectives—if not a little obvious as to the messaging of the book, which is that their perspectives are consistently ignored ... Sometimes, Purvis is a little too on the nose ... If you’re looking for a novel that addresses the unfairness of being a girl and how being a wild animal is almost preferable, with interesting perspectives from the villagers, a little spooky atmosphere and an ambiguous ending, this is the book for you.
Purvis, whose prose style is clipped and flinty, keeps a shrewd distance from the sisters, refusing to conclusively dispel the claims of their metamorphoses ... Irony that Ms. Purvis hammers home perhaps too forcefully. But she is excellent at evoking the fear of the unknown and the lure of the mob.
Tense and absorbing ... Purvis sets the stage masterfully early in the novel ... Purvis’s peripheral characters give her story its richness and depth ...
These are familiar themes, with echoes both historical and contemporary of violence against women and girls who refuse to behave in the ways that men expect them to. But the territory that Purvis explores is still rich, and her story transcends its antecedents, evolving into something more ambiguous and unexpected.
This is not a novel particularly interested in nuance. Instead, it wants to directly engage the subtext of all witch stories ... The novel is daring readers to see past the stereotypes, while also trying to showcase their allure ... It only partially works. Purvis writes with a kind of lush violence that makes the sisters’ experiences feel immediate and fresh ... The implied criticism of the idea that a girl must care what others think of her is both trenchant and tired ... The inevitability of some triteness is perhaps, itself, part of what Purvis is trying to illustrate ... Although the novel reaches old conclusions about its old subject...it did give me something new to think about.
Inspired if undercooked ... The story alludes to modern-day paranoia and scapegoating without offering significant surprises or memorable insights, but it sustains an eerie vibe, and Purvis depicts the disturbing sisters and bucolic setting in sensual prose. Neo-gothic diehards will find enough to enjoy.
