Box Girls

by Aria Braswell

For nearly twenty years, the events behind the Strasbourg hotel's closure have remained a mystery known only by the few who frequent the back alleys of Hollywood Boulevard. There are whispers there, of girls in glass boxes, legendary art installations wiped from the record, after one of the performers was found dead in her box.

The Box Girls are a myth or a memory that only few can recall, until now. From the detritus, a transcript emerges and, with it, an intimate narrative, the definitive record of what really happened that summer to the Box Girls of the Strasbourg hotel.

Over one hundred and twenty-eight interviews, and hundreds of hours of recordings, a frenzied tapestry of voices reveals answers to the mystery few knew existed, and explores visibility, identity, and the boundaries of perception in a world teetering on the brink of collapse.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

242 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2025

About the author

Aria Braswell is a native Texan set loose in New York City and writer of the weird and wild.

Her debut novel, Box Girls, was published on April 23, 2025 with LIMIT ZERO Publications, and distributed by University of Hell Press.

Her humor and short fiction has appeared both online and in print in McSweeney’s, The Belladonna Comedy, Five on the Fifth, Sortes, Dark Recesses Press, Dark Lanes and elsewhere.

With a prolific background in the performing arts, Aria has worked on Broadway and across the United States as an actor, teacher, director and composer. She is on the editorial team for Sortes Magazine, a surrealist fiction publication, based out of Philadelphia.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of the Box Girls. A group of women who work in an art installation in the lobby of the Strasbourg Hotel. Each day they arrive to work and enter their designated glass box. One girl lays on a bed in her box, painting her toenails or reading. Another is Eve, eating her forbidden apple. Another is a cosmonaut. Another, the beekeeper, has died inside her box without anyone noticing. They all assimilate to the characters they are depicting. They don’t know who is in charge of this installation, they don’t know what it represents, but they continue to come back and spend their day inside their box.

This book has all of the erieness of an iain reid novel, the feeling of the backrooms or uncanny valley, and is extremely unsettling at times.

It also reminded me a bit of Severance by Ling Ma - sometimes, even when the world is ending, the most normal thing to do is to wake up and go into work.

Full of mystery and headiness - I’ll be watching this author!!

[Nat D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the way the book was structured in interviews!

[Payton Bass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mysteries and conspiracies aren’t usually my cup of tea, but this book had me hooked. It’s a quick read and something I picked up just to break my usual tbr, and I was quite pleased. Very excited to see what else this author has up their sleeves.

[Laina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this read. It falls right in line with "I Who Have Never Known Men" and "It Lasts Forever then it's Over", which is great because I love books with protags who have limited knowledge of the environment they're in. The women in the book are art exhibits at a hotel and have to obey a strict set of rules put in place by people they only ever refer to as "The Managers". As the story progresses, the women begin to form ideas on who the managers are and realize something is wrong with their boxes. I have my own ideas on what was going on but I won't share them here because I don't want to spoil anything or skew anyone's read.
The structure of this book was a new one for me. It's told through a series of recorded interviews with the box girls, so we see little snippets of alternating POVs from each of the women. Each 'Box Girl' has a different concept of what's going on in the pseudo sci-fi, liminal world around them, so it feels a bit like the characters are dropping breadcrumbs that the reader is getting to put together in order to form a clear picture of the truth. I found this fun, and it's why I normally like elements of mystery in a story. I also actually found this book scary in a weird sort of way which was a nice surprise.

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I preordered this book after finding the author on TikTok and I'm SO GLAD I DID. If you liked the Employees by Olga Ravn (one of my favs), House of Leaves, or any books that experiment with style, you'll love this one. I think I've mentioned this before in a different review but I love stories with heady mysteries that give you just enough info to fill in the blanks yourself/develop your own idea towards what's really going on. I know that kind of thing isn't for everybody but to me this book has a perfect balance in terms of what it chooses to explain and what it leaves unanswered. I'm always on the hunt for authors new to the scene who are writing such fun little weird books like this and I'm looking forward to the next one she puts out!

[Maria J · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite read of the year. OKAY BUT LISTEN YA'LL. This is one of those books that you're either going to love or hate. People who want a very clear explanation for weird happenings by the end of a story steer clear lol. I personally love this cryptic sh*t, but I'm also a fan of House of Leaves and so if that tells you anything... Reading this book is like putting together a puzzle and I ADORE all of the mysteries it left me sitting with after finishing. I feel like it's something I'll have to read again down the line to see if there are any clues I missed in my first read. The author gives you just enough clues as to what's going on to put together your own explanation which is an obvious point of this book. Love.

[Jason Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world of generalized novel writing Aria Braswell re-invents story telling that makes you a participant. This work is a masterpiece in not just keeping the reader engaged but feeling as if we are on the edge of our seats visually watching a mystery unfold as a participant, where like a Shakespearean theatrical piece, we could mistakenly walk through that fourth wall and actually be part of the story itself. It’s creepy, it’s genius, and it’s excitingly unsettling. This a writer, I mean among the best, this is unique. Brilliant, truly Brilliant!! Can’t wait to see what else this writer creates. Jason

[Katelynn Fahrer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved the creativity the author used in telling this story through so many different voices, and yet I wasn’t confused at all! Very clear imagery and a lot of haunting questions asked by the characters. I thought this was so real!

[Shi · Rating 2 out of 5]

i’m really not sure how to feel about this? it’s an interesting story, and the idea of all the different perspectives coming together is neat, but i really don’t get it? i guess that seems to be the point though, no one in the book gets it either, but idk it just left too much unanswered ?

[Jesse Beere · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is haunting. It is darkly poetic and should probably be read multiple times to get the full affect.

[James Eid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning and bizarre. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

[Rhiana Frasier · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Don't know why this scared me so much. For sure my weirdest read of 2025.

[carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unsure how to feel about this

[Cherie Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’m obsessed with this book now if you see me this week it’s all i’m going to talk about