On the first day I was reading this novel, I compared the reading experience to being mildly concussed and dropped into the middle of a hedge maze on a dark and foggy night, and being expected to find your way out. I stand by that, except by now I know that there is no way out of the hedge maze. We are, all of us, stuck in the hedge maze of the narrative doomed to repeat, forget, and try again. Forever. Because stories are tricky things.

Which is all to say, you'll either love this book or you'll hate it. I think I loved it, though frankly I'm still not entirely sure. If you decide to tackle this, be prepared to give up on trying to understand exactly what's happening and instead let yourself be possessed by the spirit of feminine rage and allow that to be your guide. The spirit of feminine rage and the ghostly memories of all the stories you've heard before - particularly if you've read Austen and Burney and the Brontes. I tried to keep a chart of characters to remind myself of who was related to whom, and how, and it maybe vaguely helped?

Which is all to say to say that the plot of the 'main' narrative, such as there is one, focuses on Mary, a wraith in furs, who compels women and disturbs men (until they, too, are compelled), and all those who are waiting for her - from Thomas (who isn't Thomas) the Doctor, to Clara, the doomed fan-painter, to Agnes, the sister of Arthur the General, and one of several residents of Northanger Abbey. There is a convent which is frequently on fire but never burns (flames can only dazzle and adorn it), there are women always being shoved out of windows and drowning in moats and becoming flowers and crawling out of the mud. There is a constant idea of chasing, of running, of trying to catch or be caught. And all of that is underlined by a series of footnotes - some of them biographical in nature - which both elaborate on the nature of Gothic literature and also expand upon the life of the author (?) and/or a representation of the author. Add to that a mystery of red text which I still haven't figured out, and this is a novel whose text haunts itself .

I think reading it in a physical book would be easier than in a digital one, so if you're wanting to tackle this one (and I think I recommend that you do??), then maybe try that format. It'll be easier to follow the footnotes back and forth across the length of the book.

Frankly, I'm not sure what to say about this novel in conclusion. Read it, meditate on grief and longing and yearning and spectral desire. Write some footnotes. Kill a man? Become a vampire? Disappear into the ruins of your memory trying to figure out what you forgot? I'm unsure what the lesson is here, but whatever it is, I know it's carved out a space in the shape of itself inside of me and I'm not sure what to do with that information.

(Thank you to NetGalley and CLASH books for the eARC, in exchange, the above is my honest review)