Kessel, John

For readers who enjoy new takes on classic stories—and don't mind a few gothic elements thrown into the mix—this novel offers a surprisingly nuanced interpretation of characters readers may have nearly forgotten.

Kessel's (The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories) wonderfully weighty novel is speculative fiction at its finest. That the freedoms sought by the revolutionary men of the Society of Cousins reflect the ones that 20th-century suffragettes fought to achieve is not lost on the reader. Political, theological, sensual, this is impossible to put down.

Attesting to the high quality of contemporary imaginative fiction, this is an important tool for readers' advisory, collection development, and expanding readers' sf and fantasy horizons.