The Book of Guilt
[A] grand and devastating work ... Seems poised to be her breakout: Epically imagined, intricately constructed, conceptually engaging and packed with perfectly timed revelations ... [An] involving, humane novel.
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The period detail is well-observed, but the descriptions are so profuse they verge on fetishistic. What you really crave, as a reader, is psychological acuity ... There are too many pantomime baddies and characters who are so unrealistic it seems they are being manipulated for dramatic effect. The gruesome treatment of children too often feels like a shallow ploy to unsettle the reader rather than a serious exploration of the ethical implications of scientific experimentation ... For a novel such as this to be truly poignant, it needs more subtlety and white space. It needs a novelist with a chisel rather than a sledgehammer.
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Quietly devastating ... Chidgey writes with surgical precision and emotional weight ... A singular story that lingers.
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