Thank you Netgalley for sending me this arc. I will be reviewing this book in the near future with an honest rating and review.

Well, that was quite different! First off the cover was stunning and I loved it, but it was an odd little story and not for everyone. The writing was wonderful and I liked the concept but I never got 100% on-board.

I was thrilled to be able to read this as an ARC through NetGalley.

What a strange little novel this is, and I mean that in the best possible way. Gorgeous, lyrical prose, expressed by a refreshingly no-nonsense narrator.

Ada was created by her father, to help him in his vocation of performing strange medical procedures on the people of the village. But when Ada becomes intertwined with an odd young man, she begins to question she life she has inherited, and things get even weirder.

My wheelhouse is very much “young female protagonist, in a small rural village, some underlying supernatural elements”. This absolutely checked all of those boxes. But please note, this is very much literary fiction, for while the content could be considered fantastical, it is all felt very real.

Sue Rainsford’s prose is concise but beautiful. A lot of things happened in this book, but Rainsford gives just enough detail to unsettled the reader, without ever being completely upfront about what the hell is going on. I’m a big fan of books where the author doesn’t try to justify or explain supernatural elements; they just ARE and the reader must accept this.

Shades of Shirley Jackson, Daisy Johnson, and Daphne duMaurier. Highly, highly recommended to fans of the dark and disturbing.

Wow. That happened...

Seriously - this was WEIRD. Even for me. I liked the beginning A LOT - then it just felt like it jumped the shark and shifted focus and from there on out it was different and weird and full of a lot of sex and randomness... I can't say that I liked it. It's original and odd and I liked the concept, but the read was bizarre and a bit all over the place, but not necessarily in a bad way. I know that makes NO SENSE, but that's how it felt reading it.

I'm not sorry I read it, as such, but wouldn't read it again - and think Rainsford may be a little conceptual and off-beat for my personal taste. But if you like a more free-flowing narrative, there's no denying she's a talented artist - she paints word-pictures that are like nothing I've read/visualized before, and that's saying something since I read a lot. It's only three stars by my taste-/preference-meter, but a (grudging, despite my ambivalence) solid four for originality/creativity.

This book is about beings who use unique powers to cure those seeking help for their ailments. I don’t think this is a book for everyone, myself included. It was a strange read and I couldn’t make sense of much of it. I think readers who are fans of trippy, fantasy type writing may enjoy. Thanks for the advanced review copy Scribner and Netgalley.

Dreamlike, strange, and compelling story about two static, otherworldly beings who have long lived on the outskirts of town and used strange powers to heal the ailments of those seeking help. This book is a trip, with an interestingly unreliable narrator. It's really well written.. and also very wtf. Right up my alley in other words!

First I want to thank Netgalley for giving me a copy of this!
Well I really enjoyed this one. I could have finished it in a day, but it's the kind of book you want to sip on.
The writing was fantastic. The story was subdued and subtle. It wasn't flashy, but it really kept my interest. Very dark and beautiful. So many unanswered questions, but not in a way that pisses you off. I was in such a tizzy when I found out that this was the authors only book. I'll definitely be looking out for more