I loved Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea last year and it is such a pleasure to return to her through her latest novel, Private Rites. Similar to Our Wives Under the Sea, Private Rites is a work of speculative fiction with water at its heart. Check out the synopsis below:
Julia Armfield | Goodreads
From the 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
It’s been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and arcane rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father dies. An architect as cruel as he was revered, 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.
More estranged than ever, the sisters’ 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.
Private Rites – Review
Private Rites is told in multiple points of views written in third person. The first part of the novel introduced me to the sisters – Isla, Irene and Agnes. They are daughters to a famous architect who built structures designed to withstand the grueling rainy conditions. Their father has recently died and as the oldest, it falls on Isla to connect with her sisters and share the news with them. Through its nonlinear narrative and perspectives from each of the sisters, the first half establishes the kind of relationships the sisters had growing up, how their father influenced their relationship and what has led to their estrangement since they left home. Their present situation with each of their significant others also gives insight into who each sister is as a person.
Coming together for their father’s last rites only drifts the sisters further apart and the second part of the novel deals with this fallout and what each sister thinks about it. Private Rites is horror but like Julia’s previous work, it is uncanny in everyday moments. The ghosts may be memories of the past but there is a sense of someone watching. This is evident through some of the incidents that take place in the story with the third person narration style.
Julia does a fantastic job setting the mood and tone of the novel as a sombre one. It is not just the situations that the sisters are dealing with but the place where they live. Rain never stops and buildings are constantly getting flooded. Power outages are becoming more common. Life is running its course but it is melancholy and heavy. Moments of happiness are far and few in this novel, though the joys of seeing the sun after numerous rainy days does bring people together briefly. Private Rites has the perspective of ‘The City’ as well, giving a general sense of what is going on outside the lives of the sisters and what is to come. It was eerie and intriguing. The portrayal of the challenges of living in a world where it rains constantly and what that has done to the society, housing, job market, people’s demeanours and outlook was fascinating to glimpse through the personal accounts.
As gloomy as the story is, I found it to be a captivating read. It was very easy to immerse myself in 40-60 pages in one sitting. Through its sharp writing and diverse character perspectives, Private Rites is a mediation on dealing with loss of a parent, falling in and out of love, sustaining a relationship, questioning oneself, sisterhood and accepting a legacy that one never wanted.
Many thanks to Flatiron Books for a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.
Check out my review of Julia’s other novel by clicking the image below:
Thank you for this review, Kriti. I loved Our Wives Under the Sea (fabulous in audio) and look forward to reading this one. I’m not a big spec fic reader, bit I make an exception for Julia Armfield.