Private Rites

A NEW YORK TIMES Editors' Choice! From the BELOVED, AWARD-WINNING author of Our Wives Under the Sea, a speculative reimagining of King Lear, centering three sisters navigating queer love and loss in a drowning world "One of my FAVORITE NOVELS of the past few years." --Jeff VanderMeer, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author of Annihilation It's been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and old rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father, an architect as cruel as he was revered, dies. His death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father's most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will. The sisters are more estranged than ever, and their lives spin out of control: Irene's relationship is straining at the seams, Isla's ex-wife keeps calling, and cynical Agnes is falling in love for the first time. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mother's long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters' lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.

About the Author :
Julia Armfield is the author of the novels Private Rites and Our Wives Under the Sea, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror and Best Debut Novel, and the story collection salt slow. Her work has been published in Granta, Lighthouse, Analog Magazine, Neon, and Best British Short Stories 2019 and 2021. She is the winner of the White Review Short Story Prize and a Pushcart Prize, and she was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Awards in 2019. She lives and works in London.

Review :
A New York Times Editors' Choice A Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club Pick A Nonbinarian Book Club Pick A Most Anticipated Book (People, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, LA Times, Harper's Bazaar, NBC News, Vulture, Electric Literature, Goodreads, LitHub, Chicago Review of Books, The Independent, BookRiot, AutoStraddle, Bookish, BookTrib, Beyond the Bookends, Bay Area Reporter, Write or Die Magazine, Reactor, Sunset Magazine, Gizmodo, Escapist Magazine, BookBub, GeekGirl Authority, ThriftBooks) "Captivating...Probing...Armfield forgoes sentimental scenes and simple answers for suspense and horror, building an eerie mystery...Armfield makes brilliant use of the glass house as a site of secrets and violence; like Shakespeare's King Lear, Carmichael's structures withstand time and tide. Armfield invites us in, honoring the greatness and darkness of Lear's drama. Then, thrillingly, she starts throwing stones." --The New York Times Book Review "Beautifully rendered...The King Lear-esque central conflict between three queer sisters who have recently lost their self-centered, larger-than-life father feels perfectly pitched for our modern times." --Vogue "This queer, dystopian take on Shakespeare's King Lear set in a city drowned by endless rain is atmospheric, gripping, and gorgeous." --People "[Armfield] is both poet and prophet of the watery and the queer and the channels connecting them...Seductive...Compelling...Brilliantly audacious." --Guardian "Not since Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres has Shakespeare's King Lear had such a strong treatment." --LA Times "A queer end to the world you won't want to miss." --Vulture "Inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear, this characteristically eerie and emotive novel explores faith, legacy, and grief for loved ones and for the world as we know it." --GQ "Private Rites is a gripping, gorgeous read, one that demands that we learn from our past, figure out a way to live with the terror of this current moment, and use this time to knit together with one another in order to cope with whatever horrors are coming." --Roxane Gay, The Audacity "Weaver of some of my favorite sentences of all time Julia Armfield is back, following up the melancholic and haunting Our Wives Under the Sea with Private Rites...It's atmospheric and unsettling while remaining sharp in its exploration of interpersonal conflict." --AutoStraddle "Exceptional...Audacious...Armfield's sharp and sensory prose ensures we feel every beat with her characters...It hypnotized me almost from page one." --Locus Magazine "Honestly this new book might be even better than [Armfield's] last. Private Rites is a haunting and evocative exploration of human connection and the supernatural, showcasing the same lyrical prowess and keen insight into the human condition her readers adore...Her characters navigate love and loss with a razor sharp wit. The emotional depth and unique storytelling ensures Armfield's reputation as a distinctive voice in contemporary fiction...A must-read for fans of her hauntingly beautiful prose." --Glamour "Private Rites excels as a spooky character study, moving seamlessly between the sisters and their partners and creating a rich narrative despite its brevity." --BookPage "Stunning." --Harper's Bazaar "Julia Armfield's latest is a lesson in setting an undeniable atmosphere; from the non-stop rain that has reshaped the land to the ways in which varying forms of love take hold of the three sisters, Private Rites will captivate you from the first page to the last." --Chicago Review of Books "[Armfield] depicts the eerily normalized terrors of environmental catastrophe within a world that refuses to confront it its impending demise with an unsettling lyrical beauty...Armfield lends a quasi-mythic dimension to an intimate story of sibling rivalry and familial disinheritance, set to a thudding backdrop of ceaseless rain that by the novel's end had begun to infect my dreams." --Daily Mail "As an Our Wives Under the Sea evangelist, I was absolutely foaming at the mouth for Private Rites. Great news: This book fucks. It's gay and eerie and vibey and weird. Above all, It Is Wet...Drink it up, baby!" --LitHub "A queer, speculative retelling of King Lear full of Armfield's signature blend of literary horror." --Greek Girl Authority "An atmospheric meditation on sisterhood and loss at the end of the world... Private Rites is a testament to the light that can be found in each other, even in the darkest of times." --Shelf Awareness "Absorbing...Armfield succeeds at conjuring her characters' existential fears. This well-wrought family drama is tough to shake." --Publishers Weekly "The skillfully written familial dynamics and the success of Armfield's previous novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, make this an easy purchase recommendation for most libraries." --Library Journal "Readers will surely relish her impressive post-climate-catastrophe vision...Character-driven speculative fiction with strong world-building and fine writing." --Kirkus "Haunting...Armfield's portrayal if deeply psychological, told in rotating narration, and imbued with fantastically detailed world-building." --Booklist "Slick and slippery, Julia Armfield's latest novel is the author at her finest. Private Rites is committed to plumbing the depths of what might be unknowable: the monstrous, inexorable thrust of climate change and the delicate, dangerous tangle of family and sisterhood. Armfield writes the kind of books that stick with you for life. I am proud to be one of her biggest fans." --Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of With Teeth "Another stunning work by Armfield, a gorgeous hybrid of the gothic, deep character studies, and a half-drowned landscape. The writing is so sharp and distinctive it'll make you gasp. A page-turner that makes you slow down to appreciate the brilliance of the prose. One of my favorite novels of the past few years." --Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation "Private Rites has the elemental power of a thunderstorm and the thrilling emotional honesty of a first kiss. Julia Armfield is an era-defining writer." --Kaliane Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of The Ministry of Time "Private Rites is lyrical, haunting, unsettling, and J.G. Ballard-ian in apocalyptic scope. What makes the novel soar even as its world drowns are the sisters--Iris, Irene, and Agnes--who are deeply, passionately, messily human." --Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts "It's a book of extraordinary sentences, set in end-times which feel bleakly real yet pulse with a tireless, tangible force of love." --Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From "The rainsoaked world of Privates Rites is one you'll want to linger in: despite the creeping sense of dread, the characters and relationships Armfield has created are totally compelling. An astonishing ambitious novel that won't let you go." --Sarvat Hasin, author of The Giant Dark "Delivered with Armfield's signature cocktail of deadpan wit and staggering beauty, Private Rites is a sharply observed exploration of grief, family and the end of the world as we know it." --Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller