#spooky books

Today’s coffee and reading (while eating breakfast). Started this book in the middle and am now finishing with the first half.

It’s officially the spookiest month of the year, and here at Doubleday we’ve rounded up some books featuring women who are powerful, strange, sinister, and maybe just the tiniest bit witchy…

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood– More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results. Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The third is a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets. As Atwood unfolds this chilling sequel, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.

The Janes by Louisa Luna – On the outskirts of San Diego, the bodies of two young women are discovered. They have no names, no IDs, and no family looking for them. Fearing the possibility of a human trafficking ring, the police and FBI reach out to Alice Vega, a private investigator known for finding the missing, for help in finding out who the Janes were–and finding the others who are missing. Alice Vega is a powerful woman whose determination is matched only by her intellect, and, along with her partner Cap, she will stop at nothing to find justice for the Janes.

The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams– At an all-girls school in 19th century Massachusetts, the students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms. Rashes, fits, headaches, verbal tics, night wanderings. In desperation, the school turns to the ministering of a sinister physician—based on a real historic treatment. As the girls’ conditions worsens, long-buried secrets emerge, and Caroline, a young teacher and the daughter of the school’s founder must confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities around her, the ones who insist the voices of the sufferers are unreliable. The Illness Lesson is a powerful exploration of women’s bodies, women’s minds, and the time-honored tradition of doubting both.

The Body Double by Emily Beyda –   A strange man discovers our nameless narrator selling popcorn at a decrepit small-town movie theater and offers her an odd and lucrative position: she will forget her job, her acquaintances, even her name, and move to Los Angeles, where she will become the body double of the famous and troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld. Overseen by Max, who hired her for the job, she spends her days locked up in a small apartment in the hills watching hidden camera footage of Rosanna, wearing Rosanna’s clothes, eating the food Rosanna likes, practicing her mannerisms, learning to become Rosanna in every way. But as she makes her public debut as Rosanna, alarming questions begin to arise. What really caused Rosanna’s mental collapse? Will she ever return? And is Max truly her ally, or something more sinister?

“Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemlance.” - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein