Private Rites

(Hardback, Large Print Edition)

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Its been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and old rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father, an architect as cruel as he was revered, dies. His death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their fathers most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will.

The sisters are more estranged than ever, and their lives spin out of control: Irenes relationship is straining at the seams, Islas ex-wife keeps calling, and cynical Agnes is falling in love for the first time. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mothers long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.

Reviews

The skillfully written familial dynamics and the success of Armfields previous novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, make this an easy purchase recommendation for most libraries.

Library Journal

Readers will surely relish her impressive post-climate-catastrophe visionCharacter-driven speculative fiction with strong world-building and fine writing.

Kirkus

HauntingArmfields portrayal if deeply psychological, told in rotating narration, and imbued with fantastically detailed world-building.

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