Books › Down among the sticks and bones
Down among the sticks and bones
187 pages
A dark, lyrical fairy tale about the monstrous expectations placed on little girls and the terrifying, beautiful worlds they escape to.
What it feels like
Reading this novella feels like listening to a classic, unbowdlerized Grimm fairy tale told by a narrator who knows exactly how cruel the world can be. The prose is lyrical and sharp, carrying you at a brisk pace through a gothic landscape steeped in perpetual autumn, mad science, and ancient monsters. It is an incredibly atmospheric experience, drenched in a mood of eerie melancholy and grim inevitability. The emotional texture shifts from the stifling, quiet horror of parental emotional abuse to a dark, bloody liberation as two sisters are warped by their upbringing. It is a haunting, beautifully crafted exploration of fractured sisterhood and the burden of gender roles, perfect for anyone who loves stories about monstrous girls finally finding a home in the dark.
- Mood
- eerie
- gothic
- grim
- haunting
- Tone
- cautionary
- darkly whimsical
- melancholic
- matter-of-fact
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- parental emotional abuse · fractured sisterhood · the burden of gender roles · embracing monstrousness · finding true belonging
- The writing
- Lyrical and stylized, reading like a grim, cautionary fairy tale delivered by a knowing, slightly detached narrator.
- The arc
- Begins in the stifling grip of childhood oppression and descends into a dark, bloody, and tragic liberation.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave dark, atmospheric fairy tales about monstrous girls claiming their own agency in the shadows.
Content notes
- parental neglect
- emotional abuse
- body horror
- violence
- death
About the book
"Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children... Jacqueline was her mother's perfect daughter--polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it's because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline. Jillian was her father's perfect daughter--adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got. They were five when they learned that grown-ups can't be trusted. They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices."--
Description from Open Library.
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