Julia Armfield does it again!

This is such a beautifully written story following the complicated relationship between three sisters navigating life after their father passes away. Not only are they trying to process their feelings on family memories and trauma, they’re trying to assimilate to a world where it’s been raining nonstop for years, which has completely changed every day life.

Armfield has a way of crafting slow, melancholic, and mysterious atmospheres while perfectly portraying the complicities of relationships. Each sister was written with such depth, and I felt like I truly understood each of their intentions and perceptions of their family dynamics, which ultimately tugged at my heart strings by the end.

Gorgeous family literary fiction set in a dark, depressing setting… would definitely recommend!

Thank you to Flatiron Books and Netgalley for the ARC :)

Every time I finish a book by Julia Armfield, I'm left screaming, "WHAT DID I JUST READ AND HOW DO I GET MORE OF IT?!?!?"

Isla, Irene and Agnes are estranged sisters whose father, a renowned architect and all around asshole, has just died leaving them to sort out their isolated and neglected childhoods, their feeling for each other, and a complicated inheritance. But wait, there's more. It's been raining for years, literally, and the world around them has finally reached a tipping point. The center cannot hold. While society tries harder and harder to deny it's own collapse, Irene, Isla and Ages find they may be both the key and source of change necessary to walk into the future.

Armfield is an author I adore, but who is difficult to recommend. This book did things to me. It's absolutely gorgeously written; I can think of nothing else remotely like it. But It's also challenging, strange and quite terribly bleak. I loved it, but be sure It's for you before picking it up.

As we move into the last month of the year for reading, I am so happy that I am finding such solid books. Private Rites is an absolutely beautiful climate fiction story wrapped in family dynamics and generational trauma. All of this is soggy, soggy, soggy from the never-ending rain in this not-so-far away world.

Atmospheric and perfect for dreary weather, I ended up devouring this via audio. The narrator absolutely crushed it and I felt so drawn into this story during my commute last week. Private Rites cast an eerie and otherworldly rain cloud over my life during the time I was with it.

Following three sisters, this story explores the pain that tears us apart but also bonds us. I loved the ending of this one and the buildup was absolutely perfect. Check this one out if you like mysteries, climate fiction, and enchanting writing! I can’t wait to finally get to this author’s book, Our Wives Under The Sea, after loving this one.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the eARC of this one and to Macmillan Audio for the ALC!**

Julia Armfield has such a unique voice that grabbed me with Our Wives Under the Sea an her second novel, Private Rites, has similarly demanded my attention. In her re-telling of King Lear, three sisters, Isla, Irene, and Agnes are brought back together after their architect father dies. In dealing with his death, the three sisters' lives each begin to spiral in different ways all with the backdrop of a climate crisis where the persistent rain has forced everyone to figure out how to live with rising waters.

If you are in the mood for a ~vibes~ book I absolutely recommend Private Rites - you get queer, sapphic relationship drama, sister drama, parent-induced trauma, and a what in the world just happened ending, all with Armfield's exquisite writing style.

I both read and listened to Private Rites and really enjoyed the audiobook. The text version does not have quotation marks for the conversations, which sometimes trips me up while I'm reading, but certainly gives a different effect than listening. I would absolutely recommend either medium while reading.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and MacMillan Audio for the advanced copy.

Private Rites follows three estranged sisters in the aftermath of their difficult father’s death. Set in an ever raining, apocalypse like state leaves the ready feeling uneasy throughout the book.

This is a particularly character driven book and as with every Julia Armfield book written beautifully. I did find it a little bit slow at points but the end was shocking and fantastic. I could not recommend this book more ! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book is written in my favorite style: a beautiful blend of vignette and elusive prose. Julia Armfield blew me away with her writing in her last book, and while that is a tough act to follow, I found this novel successfully scratching that itch that "Our Wives" left me with. The relatability of characters was felt deeper in this novel, allowing me to feel more invested. I personally adore novels with a disjointed style or ambiguous voice, but it is certainly not for everyone.
Fans of literary horror with some tasteful body horror, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, or even Tender is the Flesh would enjoy this novel.

Private Rites is a speculative queer reimagining of King Lear set at the end of the world. Julia Armfield yet again immerses the reader into a wet and wild world. I loved how the city got its own segments of the narrative. The sense of dread that increases throughout kept me turning pages long into the night. I loved this exploration of grief and sisterhood and the impact of climate change.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters and the plot was too slow for me. I really wanted to like this book but I didn’t.

I read this in tandem with the audiobook and really loved how much immersion reading elevated this story.

The atmosphere was GORGEOUS, palpable, intoxicating and the characters were so dimensional and flawed and made this story so interesting to follow.

Julia Armfield elevates the atmosphere in her worlds perfectly and makes this story difficult to put down. You dive deep into a drowning world and struggle to surface, yet you will pause underneath the water and wait regardless. Will definitely be picking up more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Private Rites was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2024. Julia Armfield’s salt slow is one of my favorite short story collections. The way she writes about girlhood and womanhood and otherness and rabid dogs is so visceral and gripping. However, Private Rites was a massive let down for me. It was dull for a lack of a better word. The writing was still good but the bloody poetry was not. I felt the exploration of grief in this novel was very shallow and extremely surface level for what Armfield has done in the past. My biggest issue with this novel was the pacing. The first 100 pages felt like I was slowly being dragged through mud, then it picked up for about 20 pages, and fell back down again, all for it to quickly wrap up within the last 50 pages at a dizzying speed. I will still continue to read Armfield’s work in the future, I think she is a brilliant writer. However, this one was definitely not her best work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron for letting me read an e-ARC of Private Rites by Julia Armfield! I rated this book 4.5 stars, but have rounded up to 5 stars for the purpose of this review.

Armfield strikes again! A poignant look into the private lives of three estranged sisters after receiving the news of their father’s death. What starts as a slow burn of a book quickly devolves into drama and chaos as we follow these sisters - Isla, Irene, and Agnes - as their father’s passing and the reading of his will bleeds into every aspect of their lives. We bear witness to their failing and burgeoning romantic relationships; the uncovering of secrets left behind by their father and long-lost mother; and the way that the same group of people keep popping back into their lives in the most unexpected places. This is all while facing the constant battle of the climate apocalypse as their world continues to steadily be submerged under water, which, ironically, is important to the plot as their father’s crowning achievement was a glass house that rises with the tide and is a beacon of hope for their small family.

Armfield explores grief, sisterhood, the impact of climate change on society and social classes, and above all - she comes armed with a wonderfully weird twist involving a huge body of water. I only wish that she had expanded on or drawn out the ending just a little bit more because THAT is the Armfield that I love to read. If you’re accustomed to Armfield’s style, I encourage you to give this a read! I’m considering actually reading King Lear before giving this a reread, myself.

After reading Our Wives Under the Sea I immediately read Salt Slow because I just needed more. I was so excited to be approved for an ARC of Private Rites. I'm not sure if I just had different idea of what this book was going to be but my first time though I landed at a four star rating. It is a great book but it didn't quite hit the high I was expecting from her previous books. But I have to say the story and the characters really stuck with me. I couldn't stop thinking about the book. When the audiobook was added to Netgalley I decided to request it too. The second time through really got me! This will absolutely be one of my favorite reads of the year. Julia Armfield is an incredibly talented writer. I think this is a book that is best gone into knowing as little as possible. The book description doesn't quite convey what the book is about, to be fair I would also have a hard time describing it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one didn’t really work for me. I think I’m realizing I prefer books that are plot driven and this one was definitely more character driven. I had a hard time rooting for any of the sisters and that took me out of the experience a bit.

I work in the Climate/Environmental field, so I’m always drawn to books that include themes of climate change. My personal interest is in how climate change has and will continue to affect our oceans, so this book really spoke to me when I first heard about it. Unfortunately though, it just didn’t give me what I was hoping for. The characters did have a lot of wonderful depth, but I just found them all to be unlikable which led to my loss of interest in the story. I did finish the book, but it was a bit like pulling teeth (pun not intended- once you read the book iykyk).

I really liked the concept of this book but it just fell a bit short to me. This might be a 'me' problem since I was attempting to read this during a reading slump, but I did want more from it. This is my first book by the author though so I want to give her another shot since I liked her writing style.

I love this author so much omg. This was deeply unsettling and such a great and atmospheric story just like Our Wives Under the Sea. I loved the sister bond in this one and as always the lgbtq perspectives and lives.

The premise of Private Rites initially hooked me: a near-future, rain-drenched world ravaged by climate change serves as the backdrop for a story of estranged sisters brought together by their father’s death. Inspired by King Lear (though I haven’t read the play), the novel explores themes of family, grief, class disparity, and environmental decay. Unfortunately, while the ingredients are compelling, they didn’t quite come together into a satisfying whole for me.

The story alternates between the perspectives of the three sisters—each grappling with the death of their architect father, their fraught relationships with one another, and the struggles of their own lives—and the “voice” of the city itself, which offers glimpses into a crumbling society. People cling to routines, join cults, and navigate an atmosphere of quiet chaos. There are moments of brilliance in the atmospheric writing and some poignant insights into loneliness and estrangement. However, the novel felt like it was juggling too many themes without committing fully to any of them.

Was this a story about the sisters’ fractured relationships with each other and their father? A critique of the wealthy elite who can insulate themselves from disaster? A meditation on the climate crisis and humanity’s inertia in the face of it? The book tries to address all these questions but doesn’t spend enough time exploring any one of them in depth. The tone is understated, and the plot meanders.

Despite my issues with the execution, Private Rites does have its strengths. The atmospheric descriptions of the constantly raining, decaying city are evocative and immersive, and the quiet moments of the sisters’ lives are often sharply observed. However, the novel’s ambition ultimately outweighed its cohesion, leaving me more frustrated than engaged.

For readers drawn to introspective, fragmented narratives, this might still be worth exploring. For me, it felt like a missed opportunity for something greater.

Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron books for an advanced readers copy of Private Rites.

In Private Rites, Great Britain is somewhere in the future with climate change causing near-constant rain. The sea level has risen and the population remaining in the city has adapted as best they can. Isla, Irene, and Agnes's father, a famous architect who has just died, coped by building a house that can rise and float with the water. But there is a shortage of places to live with the inundation, and the sisters are all dealing with their grief--that of the changing world and what seems like imminent catastrophic flood--and the death of their father, who none of them were particularly close to.

All three are queer. Isla is a therapist, whose wife asked for a divorce and has moved upland, but Isla doesn't quite know how to move on. Irene is an accountant, who is partnered with Jude, a government relocation assistance worker, and Agnes, younger than Isla and Irene by about 10 years, and who had a different mother, works in a coffee shop and avoids any relationships that involve feelings.

Armfield's writing is gorgeous, and full of insights that I had to highlight for future reference. As the sisters follow their old patterns through the reading of their father's will, and the funeral, Armfield has crafted a world that seems more and more dangerous--can the sisters rely on each other, finally, to get through this?

As in her debut novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, what starts out seeming to be a quiet, character-driven family or relationship drama subtly turns into literary horror. It's masterful, and I enjoyed many things about it--the sisters relationship and the insights about it, especially.

I highly recommend it, and was pleased that I didn't note any anti-fat bias.

I've never read King Lear, so I'm sure I'm missing things, but I don't even care. This book was so good.
Julia Armfield is officially an auto-buy author. I wonder if her next book will also include themes surrounding water...?
This book has a slower pace, but I was gripped by the climate change aspect of this story and the fact that the city itself has its own POV. Like in Our Wives Under The Sea, there's an ominous, insidiousness taking place that's never fully answered and I LOVED it here just as much as I loved it there. Also, the writingggggg. I highlighted so many quotes and will definitely be returning to them over and over. I'm so glad I took a chance on this book. 🙌

A timely and harrowing reflection on surviving through the climate crisis, PRIVATE RITES reminds the reader of the importance of community, family, and continuing to live amidst existential and more domestic layers of chaos. I think this is a novel that will continue to bloom in the minds of others as time goes on, and we continue to live past the estimated "points of no return" and continue to ravage our resources with the proliferation of AI tools--tons of food for thought, but don't let the churn of capitalism or existential dread weigh you down. Thank you again to Flatiron and Netgalley for the ARC :)