The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

Starred review from August 28, 2023
Silas Bell—a transgender, autistic 16-year-old—has the violet eyes of a Speaker, mediums who can communicate across the Veil between the living and the dead. But to openly use his abilities, he must obtain a seal from the Royal Speaker Society, which has decreed, in the Speaker Act of 1841, that women can’t be Speakers (“I am not a woman, but as long as I am seen as one, I will be forced under the jurisdiction of the law all the same,” Silas laments). An attempt to masquerade as a Speaker initiate lands Silas at Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium, an all-girls academy intended to train rebellious girls to be docile wives. There, Silas learns that girls have been disappearing from the institution, and Silas—along with an unexpected ally—endeavors to investigate Braxton’s treacherous secrets, even as he plots his escape. In this Victorian alternate history, a frank exploration of intentional cruelty, Silas’s identity as an autistic trans teen in a society that does not accept him translates into powerful empathy toward his peers. Via precise, intentional prose, White (Hell Followed with Us) crafts an unsettlingly horrific tale that boasts a rich and fully realized world, propelled by a champion of a protagonist whose determination to fight for his right to survive is both uplifting and empowering. Main characters are white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer March Soloway, Andrea Brown Literary.

Starred review from July 15, 2023
One by one, the students of Braxton's Finishing School and Sanitorium for Veil-sick girls disappear, but their spirits remain, trapped and screaming--"HELP US." To escape a future of marriage and childbirth, 16-year-old transgender boy Silas needs a medium's seal from the Royal Speaker Society, a mark granted exclusively to men ever since the Speaker Act of 1841 prohibited women from practicing spirit-work. With a seal as proof of his manhood, Silas can go wherever he wants, including medical school. When Silas is exposed after using a stolen identity to obtain a seal, he expects to hang for his crime. Instead, he's forced into an engagement and attendance at Braxton's, an institution that claims to cure girls afflicted with Veil sickness, "a sickness of the mind" said to afflict women who engage in spirit-work. Soon after his arrival, Silas learns that not only are the students subjected to abusive treatment, the ones who resist have been vanishing without a trace. Set in Victorian England, this paranormal alternate history follows an autistic protagonist in vivid first-person prose as he unravels the haunting secret of the missing students with the help of an unexpected partner who feels just as trapped as Silas does by societal rules. Flutters of romance and feelings of kinship offer moments of reprieve from the unflinching brutality of Silas' reality. White wields prose like a scalpel, cutting deep and spilling guts with gruesome precision. The cast of characters is white. Visceral and vindicating. (historical note) (Horror. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2023
Grades 10-12 *Starred Review* In 1883 England, anyone with violet eyes can manipulate the Veil between the living and dead; violet-eyed men become powerful Speakers, while others, like 16-year-old autistic trans Silas, who are unlucky enough to have violet eyes and a womb, are forced into marriage and childbirth. A diagnosis of Veil sickness comes with any resistance to this fate, landing Silas at Braxton's Finishing School and Sanitorium for "treatment" when he tries to run away. A horrific institution attempting to perform the equivalent of conversion therapy on its surface, Silas soon discovers that Braxton's hides an even more gruesome secret that must be brought to light. Silas' ferocity in the face of the unraveling nightmarish body horror at Braxton's makes for an extraordinarily compelling character, and his determination to expose the school and its leaders' actions is a driving force in a narrative that redefines the concept of a "visceral" book. Vengeful ghosts, the other residents of Braxton's, and the uplifting (if too scarce) presence of Daphne, Silas' also-trans beloved, elevates the suspense to something more than simple survival; parallels to the dangerous pressure to conform (especially for trans or autistic teens) and the importance of being seen and understood are masterfully shown. Anatomical descriptions, on-page surgeries, and instances of transphobia, misogyny, and ableism are numerous and varied; readers, take care.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2023
Alienated from his alternate Victorian London's society by behaviors and sensitivities common to people with autism, Silas is nonetheless valued for his eyes. Their violet color allows the possessor to reach through the Veil and converse with the dead -- but only if you're male; violet-eyed females are valued only as breeding stock, and Silas was assigned female at birth. Self-taught in surgical techniques, Silas morbidly dreams of using his knowledge to excise his own womb, but when an attempt to gain the independence to live as his true self goes wrong, he's sent to Braxton's Finishing School and Sanitorium. It's a place where "girls like you" are cured of "the Veil sickness" -- and true peril awaits. Can Silas discover why the students are disappearing? The protagonist's travails are coming from so many different directions that readers' sympathies are fully engaged. Secondary characters are rounded as well, creating intriguing dynamics. A well-sustained body horror suffuses the book with tension, and (as an opening note warns) the "transphobia, ableism, graphic violence, sexual assault, discussions of forced pregnancy and miscarriage, mentions of suicidal ideation, and extensive medical gore" can be a lot to take. But readers who are up for it will follow Silas's exploits in horrified fascination and (potentially) delightfully sick dread. A closing note places this fantasy's use of medical experimentation in real historical context. Anita L. Burkam

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

February 16, 2024

Gr 10 Up-The year is 1883 in London, England, and trans teen Silas realized early in life he was born in the wrong body. Since The Veil between the living and the dead has thinned throughout the country and the world, the Royal Speaker Society has emerged as a powerful group which recruits and trains mediums who can deal with hauntings of spirits directly. When Silas dresses as a man in an attempt to run away and join the Speakers, he is discovered and sent to Braxton's Finishing School and Sanatorium. As Silas resists the Headmaster's and Mrs. Forrester's efforts to "correct" him with the proper role and etiquette as a woman in polite Victorian society, he begins to uncover mysterious past disappearances of several of the Braxton students. His potential suitor and co-conspirator Edward "Daphne" Luckenbill, a kindred spirit in more ways than one, agrees to help Silas get to the bottom of what happened to the girls. This novel provides a valuable lens into the historical perspective of trans identity. Readers will root for Silas, who only wants to do right by the other individuals held prisoner at Braxton, where each of the students face physical and emotional abuse at regular intervals. Some of the descriptions of surgery and vivisection are quite graphic and specific, so the story is definitely not for the faint of heart. While the worldbuilding of The Veil and the Speakers could be a little more established and fleshed out, this tale is nonetheless gripping, entertaining, and will keep readers guessing until the very end. VERDICT A recommended purchase for YA fiction collections.-Ryan P. Donovan

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.