Necrology

Ripley chills with this atmospheric debut set in a world where magical women, called the Dirty, and nonmagical men, known as the Freemen, struck a truce after the Salem witch trials. So long as Dirty women do not practice magic (in this universe referred to as using the Dirt), Freemen will not act violently against them. Two centuries later, in 1894 New York City, an eight-year-old girl named Rabbit lives in a Dirty orphanage with other children whose parents died in a mysterious fire. The orphanage is run by Whitetail, who has recently grown antlers, a consequence of using the Dirt to hide her fugitive twin sister within her body. When the orphanage’s Freeman patron, dubbed “Beard” by the children, sees Whitetail’s Dirty appearance, he attacks her, and Rabbit curses him dead. Blamed for Beard’s death, Whitetail is arrested, and the Freemen hope to use her case to justify overturning the truce and bringing back stake burnings. In prison, Whitetail endures torture while working to keep her twisted, rebellious sister contained. Meanwhile, Rabbit is taken in by a Freemen politician to be a star witness at the trial. Behind enemy lines, she discovers the fraught history of her world, as well as the truth about the fire and her own origins. Ripley builds a powder keg of suspense as the trial looms. With a dark tone, unique magical culture, and embodied prose, this is a promising start. (Sept.)