Her Wicked Roots

Pell’s eerie full-length debut (after the novella Cicadas) adapts the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story “Rappaccini’s Daughter” into a gothic tale that blends themes of familial devotion and skewed feminism with sapphic longing and elements of horror. Cordelia “Cordi” Beecher runs away from the abusive charity school in which she was raised to search for her brother Edward, whose letters to her have mysteriously ceased. Her search takes her from London to small-town Farrow, Edward’s last known location. Despite vague warnings from the locals, she follows his letters to Edenfield Manor, home of Lady Evangeline, a skilled botanist, where Cordi takes a job as a maid. There’s something ominous about the manor, and it’s only compounded by Evangeline’s bizarre house rules, including that all employees must cover their nose, mouth, and hands to “tend to the flowers when called upon,” leaving Cordi even more anxious about what grim fate may have befallen Edward. Still, she persists in her attempts to befriend the all-female staff and snoop in the hidden parts of Edenfield—where she discovers some shocking surprises. Even readers unfamiliar with the original will find the plot somewhat predictable, as Pell has a heavy hand with foreshadowing. Still, it’s easy to sink into the spooky atmosphere, and an impressive final twist will catch even the most genre-savvy unaware. For readers seeking fun queer gothic horror, this delivers. (Oct.)