Saskia, a former piano prodigy, comes home after her mother's death to find that she is not inheriting The Elf House, their family mansion. Instead it is going to the most improbable person she could have imagined. As Saskia begins to investigate why her mother would have done this, shocking truths are revealed.

I was absolutely awed by this. The writing is fantastic, and the premise is unique and original. The weaving together of Saskia's present and past is exquisitely done. Her mother's personality shines through the book as well. The writer flawlessly presented a unique work of fiction combining music, art, and the depths and heights a human being can reach. The "me too" movement is a part of this book in a big way, but that's all I will say. If you think you've figured out what's going on in this book by reading my review or the synopsis, you haven't. Read it.

The narrator does a wonderful job of capturing the suspense and emotion of this book in all the different characters.

I received a free audiobook from MacMillan Audio. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

The Ingenue is a surprise – beautiful and haunting. I wasn’t expecting the depth of this novel. I felt deeply for Saskia. The story itself took a bit to get into and really grasp the layout and importance of everything that is shared. I loved the dynamic that unfolds between Saskia and her dad. Saskia is a fantastic character. I loved hearing her thoughts – the quiet whispers are at times chilling. I felt her pain and longing and that is a result of impeccable writing and terrific – spot on narration.

This story is unique, held my attention throughout and comes to a satisfying conclusion. I can’t wait for more from this author.

2 stars

This one did not work for me AT ALL. Prospective readers need to be aware that the central, relentless focus of this novel is the systematic rape, sexual abuse, and exploitation of a child. If you can stomach these motifs better than I can, you may derive more enjoyment from this novel - or at least an appreciation of the style - than I did.

Saskia, the m.c., returns to her family home, Elf House, when her mother dies. Saskia is unprepared for her mother's death, and her return home forces her to face not only her unconventional parents (her dad is physically present, and the spirit of her mother is pervasive throughout, too), but also the horrific scenarios Saskia faced in her teens. Like many survivors, Saskia comes to understand these events quite differently as an adult than she did when they were occurring. Her process of discovery is detailed, disturbing, and - for me - way too intense. There were many points throughout the work that the details felt egregious. Stylistically, I get it. Saskia is processing, and readers are watching the processing. But I struggled with these details, the way they were presented, and some of the general clunkiness that happened with what felt like an attempt to wedge Saskia's mother's work - feminist fairy tale snippets - into Saskia's actual lived experiences. Yes, we're supposed to assume that Saskia is now flipping her own horror story into a feminist retelling in which she'll take the power and show the patriarchy what's what, but as a person who has professionally studied and taught both fairy tales and all forms of gender-related constructs in literature to college students for over two decades, I experienced much more extended eyerolling than warm tingles of empowerment. This pairing just felt distracting throughout.

I do not enjoy spoilers, so I'll give away exactly no details on this, but the ending took a turn that I just cannot get behind at all. Like the ongoing feminist fairy tale connections, it played as convenient, clean, and absurd, and I wonder if some readers who have related personal experiences might find the messaging somewhat disempowering.

I went into this novel with a lot of enthusiasm. The treatment of the subject matter, the feminist promises, the updated tales connecting to modern events? All potentially exactly in my wheelhouse. I'm unfortunately finishing the novel feeling like each of these areas fell flat - or, frankly - left me feeling really grossed out and knowing with great certainty that I'll be going out of my way to recommend that various people in my life not read this: the opposite of how I leave nearly every read.

Prospective readers, I hope this works better for you, but do not sleep on the content and trigger warnings.

Interesting story about losing your way and finding your inner power. Complicated family and love relationships, Pedofilia, child pornography.

Told in dual timelines between Saskia's childhood and present, the writing and pacing was well done. Each chapter begins with a feminist retelling of popular fairytales/princesses by Saskia's mother. Little Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood and Tinkerbell were some of my favorites. I enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the book and the last part dragged for me and went in a very different direction than I expected. I'm still not sure how I feel about ending.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital ARC

Unfortunately, this audiobook was not for me. I had a hard time getting engaged in the story and the narrator wasn't my favorite. The story does sound really good, so I think I'll try and pick up the book in the future. Out of respect for the author, I will not be posting my review on goodreads/amazon for this audiobook.

The Ingenue is an interesting slow burn novel reminiscent of the book, My Dark Vanessa. In alternating chapters, we flip between different times in Saskia Kreis's life - her teenage years as a piano prodigy and partner in a dark relationship with an older man and present day while she's in her thirties and dealing with the loss of her mother. The book does occasionally get a little uncomfortable, but it was satisfying to watch Saskia's character development over the years. I wish the book had a little more of a spark in the first two-thirds of the book, but overall, it was an engaging story.

Audiobook received for free through NetGalley

This book was apparent where it was leading but it was a story that seemed it needed to be told and it was told well. Glad I came across it.

I listened to the audio version of The Ingenue, the story of former piano prodigy, Saskia Kreiss, only child of the heir to the Elf House in Milwaukee (her mother ) and her father, a cello player with the symphony. Saskia's mother Evie was an artist, a university professor and the author/illustrator of a famous children's book series, "Fairy Tales for Little Feminists," perhaps my favorite part of this novel. Evie has died and Saskia returns home from New York, for the first time in years, partly to claim her likely inheritance as the only child of an only child of an only child, and so on, destined to live out her life in the Elf House. The family fortune is long gone. She fantasizes about seeing her boyfriend from high school, Patrick. She is devastated her mother did not tell her she was ill and struggles with this. She connects with some old friends and starts to come to terms with a lot of hard truths about her life.

The Ingenue jumps in time between Saskia's years as a world famous child/teenaged pianist and 2019/2020, the present time in the novel. I found that the book dragged and dragged and I could not connect with Saskia. It felt like she needed to tell her story, but I could not care much about what motivated her, why she felt cheated in life, the trauma she experienced that unfolds. It's not that I didn't agree the experiences would have profound and life-changing impacts on anyone. It's that Saskia never seems real. Oddly, very near the end of the novel, she kind of admits this. There are many surprises along the way, some good storylines and the book does take off in the last third with some more interesting twists and turns and a bizarre but fitting ending. But my lack of interest in Saskia herself never changed with the fact of the better story. This is a 3.5 stars rounded down for me. Not an awful book and it's fine I spent this time on it, but it just didn't work for me. It is well written, generally, the setting of the Elf House and Milwaukee as the backdrop felt more real to me than Saskia and was what I felt most connected to.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC!

The Ingenue was a heartbreaking book about wasted potential. It frustrated me and made me sad in equal measures. The frustrating things were the most realistic, from what I understand about the type of relationship described in the book: namely, the amount of control and emotional power the abuser still exerts over the victim, even after so many years. I guess when I think about it, that's the most heartbreaking thing too. A very dark read, and not for the faint of heart.

Thank you MacMillan audiobook! The Ingenue is a wonderful slow burn statement on what happens when childhood/adolescence is taken away, when talent is quashed by the actions of others, and when things go unseen too long. I was fascinated by the mother/daughter themes as well, particularly the blending of the feminist fairy tales at the start of each chapter as juxtaposed with the unfolding story of Saskia and her experiences as she grieves her mother, her childhood, and processes her past/present and future. The build up the end is impressive and thought provoking.

As an audiobook, this is very well narrated, I thought that Stephanie Willis honored the bigger themes of the book, the insights and experiences that Saskia has or had, and that she had a style that reflected the writing tone and style that Rachel Kapelke-Dale imbues in her book.

3+ stars rounded up.

“But my voice…my voice is how I tell people where my boundaries are, my voice is how I set my limits. No, you can take anything you like but I won’t let you take away my voice.” Fairy Tales for Little Feminists - The Little Mermaid

I came for the music prodigy story and stayed for the feminist fairy tales. This dark contemporary fiction follows piano prodigy Saskia Kreis from her childhood in the early 1990s to her return to the family Wisconsin mansion 29 years later. She and her parents are considered exceptional in their professional artistic endeavors, creating family drama and personal betrayals. These complexities create a vortex of deceit which spreads far beyond the architecturally significant generational home. I typically will put aside a novel where open door sex scenes involving children are part of the plot but book’s framework kept me reading. The story’s chapter structure, starting with one of Saskia’s mothers’ fairy tales, and then the catch-up between past and present was compelling and intelligent.
I came to the conclusion that the sometimes cringe worthy scenes were vital to the character development and I will be editing any reference to spoilers before publishing my review to all of my platforms. Narrator Stephanie Willis did an outstanding job with her performance, especially given the challenge of a wide range in Saskia’s age.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen, in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, just wow. This novel is heavy, and should not be taken lightly but I felt the author did a masterful job creating and telling the story.

I enjoyed the time frame differences throughout the story. I also really loved how new chapters started wirh excerpts from her mother’s writing.

The character development within this novel was extremely well done. Watching Saskia come to the realization of what happened to her when she was an adolescent was masterful and done with such grace. The author did a wonderful job at showing her mother’s love without her even being there as well.

I was a bit bored at the beginning and it took a while to get into, but once things started revving up, it didn’t stop. The ending was something i didn’t see coming, but also somewhat not believable but at the same time felt right for this character.

Overall, this novel shouldn’t be taken lightly but was very well done.

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for supplying me with an ARC for an honest review.

What makes you valuable? Special? Important? What if that thing is no longer?

This is billed as My Dark Vanessa meets The Queeen's Gambit and I would agree, though as a combination, not as intense. But with loads of atmosphere.

Saskia Kreis returns home after her mothers death to find her home bequeathed to a man with whom she has a complicated history. This history must be confronted now and as it does, it threatens to unravel more than just her legacy home.

And there are "Fairytales for Feminists" snippets that begin each chapter which were Saskia's mothers fame, and I wish I could read them in their entirety!

The questions above are what Saskia must wrestle with in her prodigy state and relationships. These are oft-repeated questions of my adolescence and early adulthood, though I had none exemplary talents, and could identify very real struggles of identity that were familiar. This story, though a bit dark in this application, conjurs a common theme with which I think many of us can relate. The ending is a satisfying one!

This is a slow build, character developed, suspense story. I was fully invested in Saskia's story. I was fortunate to have an ARC that I had won through @goodreads which I had begun, and then saw that NetGalley had the audiobook! Fortunately, I was approved and was able to listen from the beginning and thoroughly enjoyed the narration! Stephanie Willis captured all the tortured angst and subsequent change of self-ownership of the character. It was an excellent companion.

Keep this on your radar for December 6th Pub date. Thank you to @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio for sharing this suspenseful story!

I want to first start by saying this book does have some trigger warnings involving sexual abuse and paedophilia.

This book was a 3.5 star read rounded up to a 4. I listened to it via audiobook.

The book had a slow start. I was having trouble getting into it and really connecting with the main character. However, once you start to see the dark secrets and mysteries come out (about half way through) it had me on the edge of my seat. I really grew to love the main character and was rooting for her until the very end!

The story of a girl, a loss of innocence and learning about what is really important. An interesting thriller that was described accurately by the publisher. I did not love it at first but it kept my attention and became a rush to see how it would all end. The ending was a bit of a letdown but overall I found the story interesting.

I really liked the beginning and middle parts of this but not so much the end. The audiobook was easy to follow and the story had a good flow to it. Without giving anything away, there was a part where Saskia makes a major decision that took the plot in a completely different direction than what I was expecting and it just did not work for me. This book has such a strong storyline and impactful message and I felt like it had huge potential for a justice-serving and satisfying conclusion but the end just fell flat. Still, this was an overall worthwhile read with the heartfelt and sensitive exploration of some very intense issues.

Saskia has returned home after her mother’s death, faced with memories and fears that she buried a long time ago. But now that he mother’s house has been left to a man that she has a history with, she has to face what happened all those years ago. Her pay as a piano prodigy, a girl who never fit in, who constantly struggled with her relationship with her mother, and the complicated history with an abuser all combine to question the depths of feminism, and how far someone will go to prove herself.

I had complicated feelings about this book. Described as My Dark Vanessa meets The Queen’s Gambit, the relationships with men and her love/hate relationship with her talent are very clear. There are for sure trigger warnings for sexual abuse of a minor, grooming, and a dark predatory overall theme. But there was also lightness interspersed with the fairy tales her mother had written from a feminist perspective that also made me smile. I have some unanswered questions as well. I believe there’s more than one predator of the story, and I feel bad for Saskia’s constant abuse coming from many directions, at childhood and as an adult.

Overall, I’d give it a 3.5, and I’d recommend it for fans of My Dark Vanessa that can handle the tough dark themes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book is perfect described as the marriage of My Dark Vanessa and The Queens Gambit. Although I think I preferred Kapelke-Dale's The Ballerinas a bit more, this was a well-executed dark story with themes of predatory grooming. I would advise that sensitive readers pass on this, but for those who can handle dark, disturbing themes, this was definitely a worthwhile read. My favorite aspect was her use of the fairy tales of feminists--some made me smile, which I needed in light of the heavy content of this book. The audiobook was well done!