I love a great family dynamic story. However, I feel like as I was reading, I was waiting for something that didn’t happen. The Jewish history and culture that was shown throughout was an interesting aspect to the book

Fervor by Toby Lloyd is an interesting foray into Jewish folklore detailing the lives of the Rosenthal family in London.

Tovyah is a gifted student at Oxford University who views his family's interpretation of the Old Testament as problematic. His mother Hannah has published a book about Tovyah's grandfather's experiences during the Holocaust which divides readers. Tovyah's sister Elsie begins to unravel and goes missing for a brief time after her grandfather's death, returning as someone or something else. This prompts Hannah to write yet another book, this time detailing her daughter's unraveling. The book is once again controversial for its religious implications, suggesting that biblical stories are more truth than fiction.

Fervor is both a dark academia novel and a folk horror novel with both genres playing out in creeping labyrinthine ways. The Rosenthal's family's passion for their religious beliefs and culture provided an intriguing backdrop for Elsie's transformation. Whether or not her transformation was the result of illness or religious fervor is the question asked but never fully answered, leaving the reader to decide. Jewish mysticism is juxtaposed with a somewhat dysfunctional family allowing family secrets and ancient traditions to clash and conjure something dark, something that will make the Rosenthal's question their faith.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book as it offered a different take on the witch fiction genre. It was as though I was peering through a keyhole into the lives of this interesting family, witnessing their undoing.