Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advanced audio book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

A book within a book. Sylvia Wren is an famous American painter in her 80s. A journalist reaches out asking if Sylvia is really Iris Chapel who disappeared 60 years ago. Sylvia recounts her life growing up one of six daughters. Their father runs Chapel Guns and has no interest in his children and their mother struggles with mental health issues and believes the family is cursed by the victims of the Chapel weapons. Are they really cursed?

I really enjoyed the audio book. I wish a few more questions were answered but overall a great book.

January LaVoy did an excellent job narrating as usual.

Sarai Walker's newest novel is a feminist gothic tale that centers around the Chapel family, known for their successful line of firearms.

The six daughters of the family are mostly left to their own devices as their disinterested father works and their disturbed mother worries over what she believes are ghosts of Chapel firearms victims.

The eldest daughter, Astor, is eager to marry and leave her melancholic, victorian childhood home. Her marriage is short lived however as she dies of mysterious causes the day after the wedding.

Grief stricken, the sisters are left reeling when these events repeat themselves with the next eldest.

The remaining sisters struggle with this curse, until one, Iris, remains.

The story is told from the point of view of Sylvia Wren, the name Iris used to reinvent herself after leaving her family home.

Much goes unexplained in this novel, but the ending and events leading up to it were wholly satisfying. Sarai Walker crafted a creepy, enchanting, and captivating story that I read in two days. Lovers of gothic novels will not be disappointed.