by Andrew Joseph White
Peachtree Teen
9/5/2023, hardcover
SKU: 9781682636114
A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare.
Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.
London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife.
After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness--a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness--and shipped away to Braxton's Finishing School and Sanitorium. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton's innards and expose its guts to the world--so long as the school doesn't break him first.
Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White's much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.
Target age: 14 and up
Reviews:
"Redefines the concept of a 'visceral' book...parallels to the dangerous pressure to conform (especially for trans or autistic teens) and the importance of being seen and understood are masterfully shown...readers, take care." - Booklist, Starred Review
"White wields prose like a scalpel, cutting deep and spilling guts with gruesome precision...Visceral and vindicating." -- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"Via precise, intentional prose, White crafts an unsettlingly horrific tale that boasts a rich and fully realized world, propelled by a champion of a protagonist whose determination to fight for his right to survive is both uplifting and empowering." -- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
About the Author:
Andrew Joseph White is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one too. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University in 2022 and has a habit of cuddling random street cats. Andrew writes about trans kids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back.