One or Two

by H.D. Everett

Genres: Fiction

229 pages, Paperback

Published March 18, 2025

About the author

Henrietta Dorothy Everett, who also wrote under the pseudonym Theo Douglas

Reviews

[Erin Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me tell you… One or Two walked so The Substance could run. A story of vanity, love, loss, memory, and the crazy steps a woman takes to lose weight before her estranged husband comes home. Literally the substance without the deformities and grossness

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

hilarious concept with a killer cover but what a DRAG. It was like every small thing that happened was narrated three times before moving on to the next

[Cammi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The substance if it slayed

[isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

like if the substance happened in 1897. great beach read.

[Roxane Dumontheil · Rating 4 out of 5]

very fun, very well done! truly the precursor to the substance but with an Austinian setting

[cate jarboe · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Which is the true Frances?”

What a freaky, engaging, and thought-provoking story. Frances Bethune, desiring to shed the pounds she has put on while away from her husband, splits herself into two - physically and spiritually. All this is, of course, rooted in vanity and the romantic desire to preserve beauty in its prime. Frances, though existing as a woman written in 1907, has strikingly modern concerns.

We meet her after she has sought medical advice for losing weight. She is prescribed diet and exercise, but is frustrated that it won't work fast enough. She tries remedies from quacks that tout seemingly impossible claims - they obviously don’t work. After “exhausting” all of her options, she resigns herself to a potential solution from the spiritual realm. Frances doesn’t want to do any work. Full stop. At every turn, she employs Ursula Adams to do the dirty work for her. She wants change, but not enough to go to London to talk to Salvador herself. She wants to lose the weight, but not enough to follow the advice of doctors - which certainly would not lead to the creation of Fancy, the embodiment of her youth and the good parts of her soul. I can’t help but feel bad for Frances, though. I can understand how when she reads Charles’ letter she construes his desires as expecting the Fancy of his youth to be the one he meets when he returns home. I understand the intense pressure women have to portray the best versions of themselves at all times. I understand that we exist in a society that praises youth above all else and acts like there's nothing worse than a woman “letting herself go.” However, in Frances’ desire to lose her extra weight, she completely divorces her current self with her desire to see her husband again. Once she “loses” the weight, she is only concerned with makeup, her dresses, and ridding herself of the problem of Fancy.

Frances consistently refuses to acknowledge the humanity of Fancy and cannot fathom that she is the embodiment of the weight Frances shed. She believed “[Fancy] belonged neither to earth nor heaven, and she the begetter had a right to crush it into nothingness if she could find the power.” This specific line of thinking made me look at the way I see myself and what I think are my flaws. Am I the “begetter” of the things I am self-conscious of or are they things that coexist with me? Do I have the right to bulldoze over everything I find ugly about myself? Even if we assert bodily autonomy dictates that we have the right to do whatever we want with our appearances, how does this bulldozing affect our soul?

I also want to touch on how this story reflects the pervasiveness of body augmentation in our current cultural landscape. Obviously, with the advancement of medicine, we have created a way to alter our bodies without needing a medium to host a seance. However, there are commonalities between us and the society of One or Two. When Frances swears Ursula to silence about the process she undertakes to lose weight, I drew comparisons to the way we talk about celebrities and plastic surgery. We constantly see people “get a new face” right before our eyes but it is still taboo to talk about the particulars out in the open. Very few celebrities are forthcoming with what cosmetic surgeries they have chosen to undergo. I think this is because effortless youth is prized above those who actually try to achieve it. Frances mimics this line of thinking, not wanting people to know how much she sacrificed to lose weight. She has to create an elaborate web of lies to maintain how people think about her and her appearance.

I found it incredible just how relevant the discussion this book provokes is to thoughts and conversations that I have existing as a woman in 2025. The ending is something that doesn’t sit completely right with me but I have some different interpretations that I’m still mulling over. Maybe I’ll reread this one next year and see if any of my thoughts change about the ending. All in all, this was an extremely enjoyable read - perfect for October.

[Amber Whitaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wild ride, and occult ozempic is the perfect description. More creepy and disconcerting than I expected. Even when I anticipated how things would end, there were several things I didn't see coming. I liked Ursula a lot and was intrigued by the build up to what was going to happen. Once Fancy came into the picture, I was anxious wondering how in the world Frances was going to handle all the things. I don't know how I feel about Colonel Bethune being SO quick to marry the good Fancy - I felt like he and the doctor handwaved away how young she obviously looked and was, and they obviously knew Frances was his real wife! Also, the details of how he's now so much older than her, has all these memories she doesn't have, etc. I don't feel badly for Frances (or feel like I should feel bad, she was clearly a mean, selfish person) but I do feel like they just piled on how villainous she was! Overall, VERY glad I picked this up. And loved the picture appendix at the end!

[Sonja Aune · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the story - if you’re interested in reading for the plot, DO NOT READ THE INTRODUCTION until you’ve finished the book. I saved it for the end.

The text is dense (as expected considering it was originally published in 1907) and it took me a bit to get into the time period, but the visual glossary was a huge help AND introduced me to the works of Odilon Redon.

It’s hard to connect with the characters because they all seem to be written either intentionally or unintentionally with a sort of coldness, with a belief in things like phrenology & women’s weakness of spirit (lol), but it’s a good time if you’re a fan of early 20th century supernatural horror.

[Kevin Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a good read! I bought it from reading the cover and then was a bit skeptical about liking it once I found out it was originally published in 1907 but given The Substance… it felt so current. there are so many twist that ultimately leave you speeding through to find what happens next. i found it interesting that instead of sympathizing with Frances I found myself angry at her for some of the “mistakes” in decisions she made. it didn’t have to end this way Frances!

p.s. what great commentary on societal beauty standards and vanity that still exists today

[Karen Vidangos · Rating 4 out of 5]

They need to turn this book into a movie or mini-series. It didn’t hook me right away, so I set it aside for a bit, but once I picked it back up, I was completely drawn in. Even though I had a sense of where the story might go, I was still on the edge of my seat with every chapter. Fantastic, gripping storytelling.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read, and full of that fun, vintage seance energy. I love the extra photos at the back, and the translucent jacket. If you liked The Substance, trick photos of supposed ectoplasm/apparitions, and gothic explorations of the pressures of beauty and youth, you will love this.

[Bea Hruska · Rating 3 out of 5]

really truly enjoyed this but i do think some of the implications that mandylion highlights as transgressive may not be fully actualized. this may have more to do with the possibilities for a woman writing in this era than anything on the presses part. still a truly fun read.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really fun read that relies on completely and ludicrously clueless characters to enable the Faustian plot. Enjoyable either way, but has some water-treading passages that were a bit tiresome (though not unlike Frankenstein)

[Aidan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 20th century predecessor to The Substance

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“ahead of its time” is an understatement. really liked this. i feel like i have to check out everything else from mandylion press now.

[Carrie Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I desperately need Michael D’Arcy to read this book so I can listen to him talk about it, while occasionally interjecting to prompt his next x minutes of monologuing

[Maria D’Amico · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay 19th century “the substance”!! so freaky, kinda hard to get thru at parts, but worth it. also such a pretty little book to hold.

[Taji · Rating 4 out of 5]

Antiquated language made this kind of hard for me to read at times.
The authors discussion of womanhood is sadly very modern.

[Melody Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Substance ripped this book off 100 years later

[Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I came across this hidden gem. Fun read all around. I couldn’t help but be immediately unsympathetic towards Frances, she seemed to have her priorities all out of wack; looks like I was right as not even half way into the book she offers to pay Ursula to kill her newly created kin. Speaking of Ursula, I find her just as deplorable as Frances, she was cowardly and took a bribe instead of helping an innocent creature she had a hand in creating. She did “help” Fancy, sure. She wasn’t entirely without heart. But it’s clear that she prioritized her France’s orders over the needs and safety of innocent Fancy.

Dr. Maxworthy was my favorite character, what a sharp fellow! No wonder he’s a doctor, his open mind was the key in discovering the truth. He and Colonel Bethune are the primary reasons why the pure souled Fancy triumphed over the wretched Frances.

Just finished Frankenstein before I started this book, so it was cool reading another take on “what do I do with this creature I’ve created?”

Note to self, don’t bring a being into this world if I’m not prepared to take care of it.

[Katie Mackall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victorian The Substance. Intriguing and interesting with twists and turns. I feel like not written in a way that is sympathetic to the main character but like can't a girl evolve past her husband! I wish there had been more growth and that the "evil" counterpart had gotten to live for herself the way she wanted to. She was cruel, yes, but also wanted her to be more than that.