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Private Rites

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Private Rites

By: Julia Armfield
Narrated by: Hannah Van Der Westhuysen
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About this listen

'Brilliantly audacious' GUARDIAN

'Stunning' DAZED

'Her prose sparkles' ELIZA CLARK

‘Hauntingly good’ iNEWS

’A must read’ GLAMOUR

'One of my favourite novels' JEFF VANDERMEER

From the bestselling author of Our Wives Under the Sea, a haunting, heart wrenching novel of three sisters navigating queer love and faith at the end of the world.

There’s no way to bury a body in earth which is flooded

It’s been raining for a long time now, for so long that the lands have reshaped themselves. Old places have been lost. Arcane rituals and religions have crept back into practice.

Sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their estranged father dies. A famous architect revered for making the new world navigable, he had long cut himself off from public life. They find themselves uncertain of how to grieve his passing when everything around them seems to be ending anyway.

As the sisters come together to clear the grand glass house that is the pinnacle of his legacy, they begin to sense that the magnetic influence of their father lives on through it. Something sinister seems to be unfolding, something related to their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always been unusually interested in their 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 imperilled world.

‘Armfield writes so gracefully’ THE TIMES

‘Evocative yet grounded’ OBSERVER

‘A chilling vision of a future capital that I’ve found impossible to shake’ INEWS

‘Ballard-ian in apocalyptic scope … Deeply, passionately, messily human’ PAUL TREMBLAY

‘A signature cocktail of deadpan wit and staggering beauty’ ALICE SLATER

‘Brilliant, original … an era-defining writer’ KALIANE BRADLEY

‘Every page guillotines you with its wisdom’ TOM BENN

©2024 Julia Armfield (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers
Literary Fiction Psychological Queer
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Love, Loss and the End of the World

Julia Armfield again shows a rare talent for writing about the joys and challenges of relationships in a relatable (and beautiful) way.

Private Rites doesn't have the same fascinating subplot propelling the story forwards as Our Wives Under the Sea, and while the slow creep of climate change is thematically consistent, it does make for a slower and less immediately gripping novel that only really picks up pace towards the end (but, again, that's sort of the point)

Still, there's a huge amount of love poured into the characters of Private Rites, and anyone that's experienced even the slightest complexity in a family dynamic will find a lot to relate to here. There's also a lot to dig into regarding the metaphorical relationship between said characters and the drowned world they inhabit. Nothing feels incidental, but instead a very intentional linking of people and planet.

Hannah Van Der Westhuysen does an admirable job of bringing the three key protagonists to life, bestowing them each with a unique voice that's never cartoonish, and imbuing the dialogue with enough subtext to bring the difficult family dynamic at the centre of the story to life.

Our Wives Under the Sea would still be the first book I'd recommend to people looking for a beautiful and occasionally gut-wrenching tale of love and loss, but Private Rites would be a close second

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Erm

I really enjoyed the writing in this book for sure the author is gifted with her words, but the story. This climate change dystopian present/future wasn’t really my cup of tea. I enjoyed the relationships between the siblings but that’s about it. The cult scene ending really wasn’t up to much.

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Utterly disappointing

If you are seeking out Julia Armfield’s latest novel because, like me, have read all her previous works and loved them - stay away from this one! What a completely pointless novel, absolutely nothing happens!!!

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