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The Blue Maiden
From the author of Indie Next Pick and New York Times Editor’s Choice Goodnight, Beautiful Women comes a transportive and chilling debut novel of two sisters growing up on an isolated Northern European island in the shadow of their late mother and the Devil. It’s 1825, four generations after Berggrund Island’s women stood accused of witchcraft under the eye of their priest, now long dead. In his place is Pastor Silas, a widower with two wild young daughters, Beata and Ulrika. The sisters are imaginative, oppositional, increasingly obsessed with the lore and legend of the island’s dark past and their absent mother, whom their father refuses to speak of.
As the girls come of age, and the strictures of the community shift but never wane, their rebellions twist and sharpen. Ever capable Ulrika shoulders the burden of keeping house, while Bea, alone with unsettling visions and impulses, hungers for companionship and attention. When an enigmatic outsider arrives at their door, his presence threatens their family bond and unearths – piece by piece – a buried history to shocking ends. All the while Berggrund’s neighboring island The Blue Maiden beckons, storied home of the Witches’ Sabbath and Satan’s realm, its misted shore veiling truths the sisters have spent their lives searching for.
A Nordic Gothic laced with the horrors of life in a patriarchy both hostile to and reliant on its women, The Blue Maiden is a starkly beautiful depiction of lost lineage and resilience.
As the girls come of age, and the strictures of the community shift but never wane, their rebellions twist and sharpen. Ever capable Ulrika shoulders the burden of keeping house, while Bea, alone with unsettling visions and impulses, hungers for companionship and attention. When an enigmatic outsider arrives at their door, his presence threatens their family bond and unearths – piece by piece – a buried history to shocking ends. All the while Berggrund’s neighboring island The Blue Maiden beckons, storied home of the Witches’ Sabbath and Satan’s realm, its misted shore veiling truths the sisters have spent their lives searching for.
A Nordic Gothic laced with the horrors of life in a patriarchy both hostile to and reliant on its women, The Blue Maiden is a starkly beautiful depiction of lost lineage and resilience.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published May 14, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
April 29, 2024
I'll be honest, I spent a lot of the time reading this with a frown on my face simply because I didn't know what I was supposed to deduce from the story.
We start with the story of the island's strange history where women were burned as witches and since then there appears always to have been suspicion that all or any of the women are evil. Certainly it is never clear whether sisters, Ulrika and Bea are practising witchcraft or not. They have a fascination with their mother's red book which may, or may not, contain spells -- or it might just be herbal remedies and poisons.
As I said I got very bogged down with trying to work out what the book was saying. There is an odd relationship between the sisters - rivalry, love, hatred, jealousy, dependency - all mixed up together. Their relationships with others are also all strange.
At times it felt like being in the middle of a Bosch painting - uncomfortable, disturbing and dangerous. Whether that was what Anna Noyes was attempting I may never know. I don't mind being a little confused at times but not for half the book. I'm sure cleverer people than I will appreciate the symbolism more.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.
We start with the story of the island's strange history where women were burned as witches and since then there appears always to have been suspicion that all or any of the women are evil. Certainly it is never clear whether sisters, Ulrika and Bea are practising witchcraft or not. They have a fascination with their mother's red book which may, or may not, contain spells -- or it might just be herbal remedies and poisons.
As I said I got very bogged down with trying to work out what the book was saying. There is an odd relationship between the sisters - rivalry, love, hatred, jealousy, dependency - all mixed up together. Their relationships with others are also all strange.
At times it felt like being in the middle of a Bosch painting - uncomfortable, disturbing and dangerous. Whether that was what Anna Noyes was attempting I may never know. I don't mind being a little confused at times but not for half the book. I'm sure cleverer people than I will appreciate the symbolism more.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.
March 21, 2024
*I received this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Well, this… wasn’t quite what it says on the tin.
The blurb of Noyes' debut novel caught my eye enough to request an advanced copy - with mentions of witch hunts, the devil, buried history, the patriarchy, isolation, mystery, Gothic horror… but little of that felt of much relevance in the way I expected.
The story opens in the past, as all but a handful of the women in an isolated Northern European island are accused of dancing with the Devil in The Blue Maiden, a neighboring island, and assassinated.
Several generations later, we follow sisters Ulrika and Beata as they grow up with their father, a widower and the community’s Pastor, trying to discover who their mother (an outsider in the island) was and who they could be, living with the stigma of Otherness.
This was a beautifully told story, full of rich, atmospheric descriptions, with a dream-like quality and interesting main characters that we follow as they grow up and their bonds and their place in the world are tested.
Unfortunately, for me, there wasn’t much connection with the history of the wrongfully accused women or the mystery of The Blue Maiden. They existed as a vague threat, neither part of a supernatural horror plot nor directly connected to the sisters in the present. It felt more like a character study than anything else, so if you like that kind of stuff, you might enjoy it. Ultimately, it wasn’t a bad read, but I was expecting a different kind of story.
Well, this… wasn’t quite what it says on the tin.
The blurb of Noyes' debut novel caught my eye enough to request an advanced copy - with mentions of witch hunts, the devil, buried history, the patriarchy, isolation, mystery, Gothic horror… but little of that felt of much relevance in the way I expected.
The story opens in the past, as all but a handful of the women in an isolated Northern European island are accused of dancing with the Devil in The Blue Maiden, a neighboring island, and assassinated.
Several generations later, we follow sisters Ulrika and Beata as they grow up with their father, a widower and the community’s Pastor, trying to discover who their mother (an outsider in the island) was and who they could be, living with the stigma of Otherness.
This was a beautifully told story, full of rich, atmospheric descriptions, with a dream-like quality and interesting main characters that we follow as they grow up and their bonds and their place in the world are tested.
Unfortunately, for me, there wasn’t much connection with the history of the wrongfully accused women or the mystery of The Blue Maiden. They existed as a vague threat, neither part of a supernatural horror plot nor directly connected to the sisters in the present. It felt more like a character study than anything else, so if you like that kind of stuff, you might enjoy it. Ultimately, it wasn’t a bad read, but I was expecting a different kind of story.
May 17, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC of Anna Noyes’s debut novel The Blue Maiden.
The Blue Maiden follows two sisters who look nothing alike, while they navigate their island life as outsiders. Their mother has died giving birth to Bea (the youngest daughter), forcing Ulrika (the oldest) to assume a caretaker role from a very early age. Their father is the island's priest and is glaringly absent and neglectful so they grow inseparable as girls. Until their paths deviate from one another once Bea becomes part of the "socially accepted" crowd that has always excluded her sister.
Whilst I found the eery setting interesting, I admit that I struggled with the narrative. The ending took me by surprise but it could be because the book felt a little underdeveloped for me. There were some plot points that made very little sense to me, and the characters, while engaging, could not compensate for the hollowness of their arcs.
I feel like this is perfect for people looking less for a plot, and more for witchy, weird Scandinavian Christian vibes.
The Blue Maiden follows two sisters who look nothing alike, while they navigate their island life as outsiders. Their mother has died giving birth to Bea (the youngest daughter), forcing Ulrika (the oldest) to assume a caretaker role from a very early age. Their father is the island's priest and is glaringly absent and neglectful so they grow inseparable as girls. Until their paths deviate from one another once Bea becomes part of the "socially accepted" crowd that has always excluded her sister.
Whilst I found the eery setting interesting, I admit that I struggled with the narrative. The ending took me by surprise but it could be because the book felt a little underdeveloped for me. There were some plot points that made very little sense to me, and the characters, while engaging, could not compensate for the hollowness of their arcs.
I feel like this is perfect for people looking less for a plot, and more for witchy, weird Scandinavian Christian vibes.
February 28, 2024
Witches, past, isolated population, a priest and Sweden. Sounds like fun!
Unfortunately I found this book hard to follow and very slow. The story is confusing, because we are given only glimpses into the life of two sisters. It´s like watching polaroid snapshots from somebody's life, you see a person as a child, as a teenager, as a young woman, grown woman , her wedding, her first child and then her own burial, but everything that had happened in between we must guess. In this book it´s similar. Various scenes without clear connection, lots of omission, unspoken and unshown things that have happened and we readers are expected to know is too much for me.
Unfortunately I found this book hard to follow and very slow. The story is confusing, because we are given only glimpses into the life of two sisters. It´s like watching polaroid snapshots from somebody's life, you see a person as a child, as a teenager, as a young woman, grown woman , her wedding, her first child and then her own burial, but everything that had happened in between we must guess. In this book it´s similar. Various scenes without clear connection, lots of omission, unspoken and unshown things that have happened and we readers are expected to know is too much for me.
March 21, 2024
Absolutely gorgeous storytelling from Anna Noyes in The Blue Maiden wasn’t a surprise: what caught me off guard was the sustained emotional impact of the writing. It’s rare that someone who writes such clean, crisp short stories as Noyes can sustain a novel with the same neatness, but The Blue Maiden is intricate without feeling weighty or slow and Noyes gives us beautiful evocative prose from beginning to end.
The Blue Maiden is a coming of age story that gives us entry to a small community in early nineteenth century Northern Europe: its historical fiction that doesn’t feel historical, and the cast of characters is interesting in the same way that the denizens of a locked-room mystery are.
The story - and ultimately it feels like a story of time and place as much as the story of sisters Beata and Ulrika - has a tesseract quality to it, and as I read I found myself stopping and thinking about particular sentences without feeling disrupted from the experience of reading.
The plot owes much to Gothic predecessors: Hawthorne, du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Wharton all come to mind. Noyes sustains feelings of apprehension and uncertainty at the same time that she shows the reader a community that is oddly inveigling.
Avoiding spoilers is hard when a book is this well-made; there is a powerful reveal that may catch some readers off guard, but I found the small brutal pinches of family and community history were far more integral to the overall impact.
This book is unusual, sharp as a scalpel, and at times a little coy: altogether it is one of the most immersive novels I’ve read in ages. I haven’t read anything since Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites that made me feel quite so envious of the author’s skill, and I look forward to what she will do next.
I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Blue Maiden is a coming of age story that gives us entry to a small community in early nineteenth century Northern Europe: its historical fiction that doesn’t feel historical, and the cast of characters is interesting in the same way that the denizens of a locked-room mystery are.
The story - and ultimately it feels like a story of time and place as much as the story of sisters Beata and Ulrika - has a tesseract quality to it, and as I read I found myself stopping and thinking about particular sentences without feeling disrupted from the experience of reading.
The plot owes much to Gothic predecessors: Hawthorne, du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Wharton all come to mind. Noyes sustains feelings of apprehension and uncertainty at the same time that she shows the reader a community that is oddly inveigling.
Avoiding spoilers is hard when a book is this well-made; there is a powerful reveal that may catch some readers off guard, but I found the small brutal pinches of family and community history were far more integral to the overall impact.
This book is unusual, sharp as a scalpel, and at times a little coy: altogether it is one of the most immersive novels I’ve read in ages. I haven’t read anything since Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites that made me feel quite so envious of the author’s skill, and I look forward to what she will do next.
I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 4, 2024
I'm really not sure how to rate this title. The prose is lovely—to the extent that one can separate prose from narrative—but the narrative was fully of so many painful moments, both big and small, that had to stop reading. I would definitely look for other work by this writer, but the sorrow in this title was too deep for me to make it all the way through.
May 2, 2024
It is 1825 and sisters Ulrika (10), and Beata (6) live with their father. Only Ulrika remembers their mother (Angelique) who died while giving birth to Beata. Their absent and aloof father keeps their mother’s room, belongings, and memories locked up, never speaking about her. The girls hunger for a connection with their mother (from their father to Beata, “You might look a bit like her, but Ulrika behaves like her, time to time...a beast with Viking blood.”), and must search on their own to find it.
Despite their father’s admonitions, they explore Angelique’s room where they find a journal containing descriptions of poisonous and medicinal native plants. The writing is in their mother’s hand: can the book bring them closer to understanding and knowing their mother? Will the information in the journal awaken them to the possibilities of power and agency?
As they get older, Beata wants to separate herself from her sister. She wants to be adored and popular, and thinks her older sister is holding her back. Due to her father’s lack of affection, Beata craves male attention, and thinks she has found it when a man returns to Berggrund. When it appears he is there for Ulrika, Beata interjects herself into the man’s life. Will he cause a further rift in the girls’ relationship??
So, what is The Blue Maiden? It is a fictional island where the secluded and hidden Blockula can be found. According to lore, it is the place where witches/women go to commune with the devil. According to the male population, witches abduct children and fly them to Blockula where they include the innocents in sacrifices and lewd acts. By the end of a particular day in 1625, only five women are spared getting their throats cut.
As I read, I expected everything I read to have a surrealistic bend to it. I could not tell if dreams were dreams, actions were actions, or people just plain people (maybe this is what the author intended). I always had the witches of the first chapter in the back of my mind which clouded my take on events. I was waiting for the Blue Maiden to make an appearance, and possibly turn the lore into reality. Were the sisters tied to the Blue Maiden? Or was it their father who is a direct descendant of one of the five, spared women? Would he sacrifice his daughters like his ancestors did? I won’t tell.
I would like to thank Grove Park and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Despite their father’s admonitions, they explore Angelique’s room where they find a journal containing descriptions of poisonous and medicinal native plants. The writing is in their mother’s hand: can the book bring them closer to understanding and knowing their mother? Will the information in the journal awaken them to the possibilities of power and agency?
As they get older, Beata wants to separate herself from her sister. She wants to be adored and popular, and thinks her older sister is holding her back. Due to her father’s lack of affection, Beata craves male attention, and thinks she has found it when a man returns to Berggrund. When it appears he is there for Ulrika, Beata interjects herself into the man’s life. Will he cause a further rift in the girls’ relationship??
So, what is The Blue Maiden? It is a fictional island where the secluded and hidden Blockula can be found. According to lore, it is the place where witches/women go to commune with the devil. According to the male population, witches abduct children and fly them to Blockula where they include the innocents in sacrifices and lewd acts. By the end of a particular day in 1625, only five women are spared getting their throats cut.
As I read, I expected everything I read to have a surrealistic bend to it. I could not tell if dreams were dreams, actions were actions, or people just plain people (maybe this is what the author intended). I always had the witches of the first chapter in the back of my mind which clouded my take on events. I was waiting for the Blue Maiden to make an appearance, and possibly turn the lore into reality. Were the sisters tied to the Blue Maiden? Or was it their father who is a direct descendant of one of the five, spared women? Would he sacrifice his daughters like his ancestors did? I won’t tell.
I would like to thank Grove Park and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
April 29, 2024
“Ghosts come in fog, the villagers have always said.”
The Blue Maiden was a very different book, between reality and visions. Walking on a tight rope, it interrogates us on our humanity, our bestiality, our relationship with Nature and the World. After a heavy and long prologue, the use of present tense doesn’t dynamise the story. On the contrary, it suspends the action, freezing it in place in a blurry incertitude. It adds tension.
We can’t say what is true, what is from the sisters’ imagination, if they invent it, if Bea has visions or if we are trapped in a magical –or cursed– world. That’s the beauty of this book, we glide in that uncertainty, wave in the melancholy created by the flawless writing, making us sure that bad things are coming, ready to knock at the door.
Who is the crazy one here? Who acts good? Who misbehaves? We never know as religion and naturalism contront in turn, then wave with each other.
None of the characters are black, or white, they are all subtle shades of grey, and the author leaves to us the task to taste, think, judge, and choose. The magnificent descriptions of Nature are a counterpart to the Human’s craziness, and also contribute to freeze the story. In this regards (and –of course– because the sisterhood links), it reminded me a bit of The Virgin Suicides, where beauty announces the darkness to come. It’s a beautiful reflexion about Humans, Nature, and Bestiality, about what it means and feels to grow up, to become an adult and find yourself.
If you look for an escape through Fantasy and a magical world, this probably isn’t the right book. On the other hand, if you want to live an experience (I don’t have a better world), to feel that island, to get lost and wander in a fog full of discoveries, then plough into this short read. I loved that strange but fascinating immersion.
Rate 4.5/5
Thank you NetGalley, Anna Noyes and Atlantic Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The Blue Maiden was a very different book, between reality and visions. Walking on a tight rope, it interrogates us on our humanity, our bestiality, our relationship with Nature and the World. After a heavy and long prologue, the use of present tense doesn’t dynamise the story. On the contrary, it suspends the action, freezing it in place in a blurry incertitude. It adds tension.
We can’t say what is true, what is from the sisters’ imagination, if they invent it, if Bea has visions or if we are trapped in a magical –or cursed– world. That’s the beauty of this book, we glide in that uncertainty, wave in the melancholy created by the flawless writing, making us sure that bad things are coming, ready to knock at the door.
Who is the crazy one here? Who acts good? Who misbehaves? We never know as religion and naturalism contront in turn, then wave with each other.
None of the characters are black, or white, they are all subtle shades of grey, and the author leaves to us the task to taste, think, judge, and choose. The magnificent descriptions of Nature are a counterpart to the Human’s craziness, and also contribute to freeze the story. In this regards (and –of course– because the sisterhood links), it reminded me a bit of The Virgin Suicides, where beauty announces the darkness to come. It’s a beautiful reflexion about Humans, Nature, and Bestiality, about what it means and feels to grow up, to become an adult and find yourself.
If you look for an escape through Fantasy and a magical world, this probably isn’t the right book. On the other hand, if you want to live an experience (I don’t have a better world), to feel that island, to get lost and wander in a fog full of discoveries, then plough into this short read. I loved that strange but fascinating immersion.
Rate 4.5/5
Thank you NetGalley, Anna Noyes and Atlantic Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
May 16, 2024
The horrors of witch trials still haunt Berggrund Island where the two sisters lived all their life. Each peculiar in her own way grows to fight against the constraints of the societies in the 1800s. When a handsome stranger arrives in town, scales dip to one side, uncovering all the mysteries that lay buried forever (including their mother's death). Depicting the stories in an inter-weaving pattern of women, society, greed, lust and power, the tale transports into Nordic times.
This isn't one of that slow-paced literary fiction where you move through each instance living it in depth, but a swift tide that submerges you in water and brings you back on top gasping for air- which I loved! The plot of the story is one of its strong suits which I think could have been utilized better with a strategic approach to highlight a few characters. Each character was developed well and had a good background to cover their story, but none of them were prominent enough to stand out.
Having said that, I do feel the contradictions of society are portrayed well in the story and if a similar uniformity was shown in the relationship between the 2 sisters, it would have been amazing.
This isn't one of that slow-paced literary fiction where you move through each instance living it in depth, but a swift tide that submerges you in water and brings you back on top gasping for air- which I loved! The plot of the story is one of its strong suits which I think could have been utilized better with a strategic approach to highlight a few characters. Each character was developed well and had a good background to cover their story, but none of them were prominent enough to stand out.
Having said that, I do feel the contradictions of society are portrayed well in the story and if a similar uniformity was shown in the relationship between the 2 sisters, it would have been amazing.
July 1, 2025
A bad selection on my part.
This really isn’t my sort of thing; almost the opposite.
This really isn’t my sort of thing; almost the opposite.
November 23, 2023
My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC of Anna Noyes’s debut novel The Blue Maiden.
Synopsis: Two sisters who look nothing alike but are eerily bonded grow up with their widower father on the Scandinavian island of Berggrund. Off the coast of Berggrund lies another island called The Blue Maiden that has attained local mythology about witches and creepy women in the woods. The girls’ mother, long dead, has some tenuous connection to this island, as does their father, who apparently once abandoned the family dog there.
To be honest, I had a great deal of difficulty discerning the projects of this narrative. In a nutshell, the younger sister Bea (Beats) winds up married to a sexy older guy who returns to claim family property. At first, her father thinks this man will marry older sister Ulrika, but Bea’s physical similarity to their mother winds up attracting him. Early in the marriage, he calls her by her mother’s name, and it eventually comes out that he had a love affair with her. Worse still, Ulrika is his daughter by their mother, and he brings Ulrika to their home and the two begin an incestuous relationship. When Bea, after many miscarriages, has a baby, Ulrika essentially mothers the infant, including nursing it. Then at some point, the husband’s brother, Elias, enters the scen and he has a thing for both sisters too. Then I got lost.Bea is eventually alone with her son and has some sort of epiphany at the Blue Maiden, it seems.
What I suspect was intended as an atmospheric, eerie Midsommar-style narrative unfortunately obscures the point of the novel. I just kept thinking, “OK, so…..?” A frustrating lack of pay off combined with characters that annoy cause this to rate 2.5 stars from me. There are glimmers here of potential, but they, like everything and everyone in Berggrund is lost in a mist.
Synopsis: Two sisters who look nothing alike but are eerily bonded grow up with their widower father on the Scandinavian island of Berggrund. Off the coast of Berggrund lies another island called The Blue Maiden that has attained local mythology about witches and creepy women in the woods. The girls’ mother, long dead, has some tenuous connection to this island, as does their father, who apparently once abandoned the family dog there.
To be honest, I had a great deal of difficulty discerning the projects of this narrative. In a nutshell, the younger sister Bea (Beats) winds up married to a sexy older guy who returns to claim family property. At first, her father thinks this man will marry older sister Ulrika, but Bea’s physical similarity to their mother winds up attracting him. Early in the marriage, he calls her by her mother’s name, and it eventually comes out that he had a love affair with her. Worse still, Ulrika is his daughter by their mother, and he brings Ulrika to their home and the two begin an incestuous relationship. When Bea, after many miscarriages, has a baby, Ulrika essentially mothers the infant, including nursing it. Then at some point, the husband’s brother, Elias, enters the scen and he has a thing for both sisters too. Then I got lost.Bea is eventually alone with her son and has some sort of epiphany at the Blue Maiden, it seems.
What I suspect was intended as an atmospheric, eerie Midsommar-style narrative unfortunately obscures the point of the novel. I just kept thinking, “OK, so…..?” A frustrating lack of pay off combined with characters that annoy cause this to rate 2.5 stars from me. There are glimmers here of potential, but they, like everything and everyone in Berggrund is lost in a mist.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2024
Bruno Schulz, Shirley Jackson, and Terrence Malick trapped on a haunted Swedish island. Scary and sexy and sad, like life itself!
April 24, 2024
Fascinating story of an isolated, tightly structured people and their intense need to identify and punish those they consider witches. Did accusations and confessions come from young people only because they were convinced of what they saw, or was it all real? I fell deeply into the gripping tale of two sisters who experience the bullying and the unnerving potentially true (or not) coming accusation that they were somehow “marked” by the Devil, who is awaiting them in a horrifying place, the family and all who know them shudder in fear and intense dread. I read this novel in a remarkably short time as each trouble kept me in the world Noyes created.
July 21, 2024
I liked how mysterious and spooky this was! Not all of it makes a ton of sense and it's definitely slow paced, but the sisters were an interesting dynamic and learning the families history and secrets was worth it. The descriptions of the island and setting were 10/10, I really liked this gritty, disturbing underrated novel🙏🌊
August 4, 2024
For a random library pick up, i loved loved this
Gothic, period and atmospheric is my favourite type of summerween book pick and my favourite sub-genre of gothic.
This is a short book at 200-ish pages and very much a slow builder that is very character driven. It kept me engaged and questioning and i loved our unreliable narrator. Definitely a surprise win for me.
Gothic, period and atmospheric is my favourite type of summerween book pick and my favourite sub-genre of gothic.
This is a short book at 200-ish pages and very much a slow builder that is very character driven. It kept me engaged and questioning and i loved our unreliable narrator. Definitely a surprise win for me.
April 1, 2025
Weird and wonderful and gorgeous.
May 27, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was really not what I was expecting. The first few pages had me excited, and the description (which promised gothic vibes, witch hunts, children of the devil, critiquing the patriarchy, and discovering island secrets) caught my attention quickly.
Alas, I couldn't find most of that in this book. I just feel lied to I guess. The writing was pretty, but I left equal parts confused and bored. Disappointing.
Publication date: May 14, 2024
This was really not what I was expecting. The first few pages had me excited, and the description (which promised gothic vibes, witch hunts, children of the devil, critiquing the patriarchy, and discovering island secrets) caught my attention quickly.
Alas, I couldn't find most of that in this book. I just feel lied to I guess. The writing was pretty, but I left equal parts confused and bored. Disappointing.
Publication date: May 14, 2024
August 5, 2024
3 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is definitely a literary book. A book of vibes. A book with beautifully creepy prose. I def want to go back and annotate some of this, because there were some stunning sentences in this story. My purpley prose itch was most assuredly scratched.
I think this book is a mood. A fall mood for sure. It's set in Sweden in the 1800s on a remote island. You really get the sense of both isolation and community. I thought that this was going to be more of a witchy tale, given that at the beginning we learn about a witch trial and the island called The Blue Maiden, which has another name, Blokanda which is where the devil lives.
But really its about sisters. (I guess the patriarchy, but like eh) I thought the author captured that relationship exquisitely well. The devotion, the anger, the jealousy, the love and affection. All the complicated feelings between sisters who know each other best, but also don't seem to know each other at all.
This is not a book with plot. There is stuff that happens. Some of it shocking. Most of it disturbing. But this is a book of vibes really. Of feelings and almost poetic descriptions about coming of age as a woman, sisterhood, mothers and daughters, motherhood and community. If you are looking for a STORY, I wouldn't look here, but if you were looking for a Nordic fever dream on a remote island with creepy and beautiful imagery, look no further.
This is definitely a literary book. A book of vibes. A book with beautifully creepy prose. I def want to go back and annotate some of this, because there were some stunning sentences in this story. My purpley prose itch was most assuredly scratched.
I think this book is a mood. A fall mood for sure. It's set in Sweden in the 1800s on a remote island. You really get the sense of both isolation and community. I thought that this was going to be more of a witchy tale, given that at the beginning we learn about a witch trial and the island called The Blue Maiden, which has another name, Blokanda which is where the devil lives.
But really its about sisters. (I guess the patriarchy, but like eh) I thought the author captured that relationship exquisitely well. The devotion, the anger, the jealousy, the love and affection. All the complicated feelings between sisters who know each other best, but also don't seem to know each other at all.
This is not a book with plot. There is stuff that happens. Some of it shocking. Most of it disturbing. But this is a book of vibes really. Of feelings and almost poetic descriptions about coming of age as a woman, sisterhood, mothers and daughters, motherhood and community. If you are looking for a STORY, I wouldn't look here, but if you were looking for a Nordic fever dream on a remote island with creepy and beautiful imagery, look no further.
April 4, 2024
We start out in 1675, when on Berggrund Island, Sweden, 32 women were killed as witches and burned once their bodies dried out. We then go to 1825 and follow two sisters, Bea and Ulrika, who were the daughters of the local priest, and their mother died in Bea's childbirth. It goes on from there, to when they are young and then when they become marriageable. Including all the things that girls do when they are young. What the Blue Maiden is, is an Island called Blockula that in 1675 that the women were told to have brought children too which was made into a wives tail. We follow Bea as she becomes marriageable to August, and how when her father died her sister Ulrika came and took care of her when she finally got pregnant with her son, Auggie. It goes through many scenario's telling what happens to the two girls and how their live change.
August 22, 2024
I'm between a 3 and a 4. I think that some ideas could have been fleshed out a bit more and some storylines completely removed. However, I actually really enjoyed it, I read it quite quickly as I was drawn to the narrative of this young girl breaking through the 'truths' she grew up with and getting a taste of other truths. I also think she really explores girl hood and women hood well, and I would have loved to know more about the life of Ulrika. Huge potential for a sequel.
May 26, 2024
A promising start that never lives up to the opening chapter (or the summary, for that matter). You're promised a witch hunt, you're shown witch trials, and then the rest of the book is basically just two little girls growing up in a town that happens to believe in witches. "Are the girls practicing witchcraft...?" The book doesn't seem particularly interested in exploring that question at all.
April 3, 2024
Vivid imagery that reminds me of the witch movie, one thing I really look for in books is stylistic prose and it was a big hit in this one for me. The way the author whose name i’m now gonna have to learn crafted a dark archaic world immersed me a lot.
May 29, 2024
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!
Please note this is 3 1/2 stars.
This book had absolutely gorgeous prose, and I have to say that I did find myself so caught up in it that I forgot for a while what it was supposed to be about. There's a certain windswept isolation to the words in this book, and I thought it was just fabulous. There's so much that's tied into these sorts of locations, and I will say that I thought that facet of this book was captured perfectly. I found myself feeling like I was in the location, which is always a beautiful thing when reading a book.
With that said, I did find that the narrative side of this book got a little lost. The title didn't quite deliver on the promises that it gave, and I thought that it could have been a lot better from that standpoint. There was the potential to make this a sweeping folk horror piece of work, and I will admit that I was a bit let down by that side of it.
The characters were interesting, although perhaps not as fleshed out as they could have been. I enjoyed the literary style of this immensely, but just didn't quite get where it was going beyond the more 'slice of life' side of things from a dark island.
Please note this is 3 1/2 stars.
This book had absolutely gorgeous prose, and I have to say that I did find myself so caught up in it that I forgot for a while what it was supposed to be about. There's a certain windswept isolation to the words in this book, and I thought it was just fabulous. There's so much that's tied into these sorts of locations, and I will say that I thought that facet of this book was captured perfectly. I found myself feeling like I was in the location, which is always a beautiful thing when reading a book.
With that said, I did find that the narrative side of this book got a little lost. The title didn't quite deliver on the promises that it gave, and I thought that it could have been a lot better from that standpoint. There was the potential to make this a sweeping folk horror piece of work, and I will admit that I was a bit let down by that side of it.
The characters were interesting, although perhaps not as fleshed out as they could have been. I enjoyed the literary style of this immensely, but just didn't quite get where it was going beyond the more 'slice of life' side of things from a dark island.
May 21, 2024
The Blue Maiden
Two sisters are portrayed as wild all throughout their childhood with no real guidance at all. Their mother died during childbirth of her second daughter and the father is a pastor that doesn’t know how to handle being a single parent. It is set in an oppressive time period where women are to bear children and stay in their place. There is an air of religious oppression, as well.
This story has a dark and gloomy feel to it. It’s almost like I can feel the pain the character is internalizing but it left me confused. There is a plot twist in it that surprised me and caught my attention.
The narration was done by Alyssa Bresnahan. The narration was perfect. I’m giving the novel three stars because of the confusion and the questions due to the gaps in the story. I wanted to read this book because of the cover.
Special thanks to #NetGalley and #RBMedia for this #ARC to review.
Two sisters are portrayed as wild all throughout their childhood with no real guidance at all. Their mother died during childbirth of her second daughter and the father is a pastor that doesn’t know how to handle being a single parent. It is set in an oppressive time period where women are to bear children and stay in their place. There is an air of religious oppression, as well.
This story has a dark and gloomy feel to it. It’s almost like I can feel the pain the character is internalizing but it left me confused. There is a plot twist in it that surprised me and caught my attention.
The narration was done by Alyssa Bresnahan. The narration was perfect. I’m giving the novel three stars because of the confusion and the questions due to the gaps in the story. I wanted to read this book because of the cover.
Special thanks to #NetGalley and #RBMedia for this #ARC to review.
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June 5, 2024DNF at 13%
I unfortunately found myself not excited to pick this up. I don't know if it's because I've recently finished a couple different novels set on small remote islands in northern Europe (Clear by Carys Davies and Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor), but the slow pacing and similarities in settings didn't offer me anything new or exciting. Maybe I'll come back to this one in the future, but it just didn't start out giving what I hoped it would give.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic Press for advanced reader access. If the synopsis of this book sounds interesting to you, it published on May 14, 2024.
I unfortunately found myself not excited to pick this up. I don't know if it's because I've recently finished a couple different novels set on small remote islands in northern Europe (Clear by Carys Davies and Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor), but the slow pacing and similarities in settings didn't offer me anything new or exciting. Maybe I'll come back to this one in the future, but it just didn't start out giving what I hoped it would give.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic Press for advanced reader access. If the synopsis of this book sounds interesting to you, it published on May 14, 2024.
July 7, 2024
Dnf at 30%
I wanted to start with "i see the value of this story but i just wasn't into it", but in this first 30% i could not yet see the value of the story. I really hope there is more to it after the 30% but it just didn't pull me in, didn't keep my attention, and i just kinda noticed i did not want to read it, actually forcing myself. I really wish i could have enjoyed and finished it, but it wasnt for me. The characters seemed bland, i did not really find a plot in the 30% and overall i think it should have the attentiongrabbing part earlier on. I hope others enjoy it!
Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review
I wanted to start with "i see the value of this story but i just wasn't into it", but in this first 30% i could not yet see the value of the story. I really hope there is more to it after the 30% but it just didn't pull me in, didn't keep my attention, and i just kinda noticed i did not want to read it, actually forcing myself. I really wish i could have enjoyed and finished it, but it wasnt for me. The characters seemed bland, i did not really find a plot in the 30% and overall i think it should have the attentiongrabbing part earlier on. I hope others enjoy it!
Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review
February 24, 2024
Anna Noyes' The Blue Maiden is so atmospheric - you are right there on this oppressive island with Beata and Ulrich. But many times I wanted more in terms of story and characterization. I'm still very glad I read it and I will definitely seek out Noyes' next books. Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the ARC.
October 10, 2023
Thank you for the arc provided kindly by Netgalley. This story was so atmospheric, full of nostalgia and pain. The sisterly bond was tender and very well written. It is a perfect read for the fall season.
July 8, 2024
The writing didn't work for me and the side characters felt simple. The atmosphere of the sisters Ulrike and Bea's relationship was a shifting and strange thing- in a good way.
July 28, 2024
A disturbing depiction of the brutality of Christians to women. I was hooked from the beginning with the detailed descriptions of pre machine daily living, the remoteness, the plants on the islands, the red book, the duality of the father, the relationship of two sisters who are also de facto mother/daughter - the resilience.
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