Hemlock

by Melissa Faliveno

A woman haunted by a dark inheritance returns to the woods where her mother vanished, in this queer Gothic novel—a butch Black Swan.

Sam, finally sober and stable with a cat and a long-term boyfriend in Brooklyn, returns alone to Hemlock, her family’s deteriorating cabin deep in the Wisconsin Northwoods, where her mother disappeared years before and never returned. But a quick, practical trip takes a turn for the worse when the rot and creak of the forest starts to creep in around the edges of Sam’s mind. It starts, as it always does, with a beer.

As Sam dips back into the murky waters of dependency, the inexplicable begins to arrive at her door in the forms of a neighbor who leaves no trace, a talking doe who sounds just like Sam’s missing mother, and a series of mysterious gifts that might be a welcome or a warning. And as Sam’s stay extends—as the town’s grip on her tightens and her body takes on a strange new shape—the borders of reality begin to blur, and she senses she is battling something sinister—whether nested in the woods or within herself. 

Hemlock is a carnal coming-of-addiction, a dark sparkler about rapture, desire, transformation, and transcendence in many forms. What lives at the heart of fear—animal, monster, or man? How do we contain a threat that may come from within? And how can we reject our own inheritance, the psychic storm that’s been coming for generations, and rebuild a new home for ourselves? In the tradition of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, Hemlock is a novel of singular style, with all the edginess of a survival story and a simmering menace that glints from the very periphery of the page.

Genres: Horror, Gothic, Queer, Adult, LGBT, Fiction, Adult Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication January 20, 2026

About the author

Author of TOMBOYLAND: ESSAYS and the debut novel HEMLOCK, forthcoming January 20, 2026 from Little, Brown.

Reviews

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv)]

whoever coined this as a "butch black swan" in the marketing department deserves a raise i'm so serious

[Linda Galella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy for review purposes. All opinions are honest and mine alone.


Let me start by saying, I HATE the publisher’s first sentence in the opening of the summary about this book: “…in this queer Gothic novel - a butch Black Swan.” What?!?!?

Not in a million years is this debut novel, by Melissa Faliveno, anything like that wretched description. Yes, main character, Sam, a woman who is doing battle with emotional demons, does have a lesbian experience during the course of the story. Is it so important it deserves top billing by the publisher? I don’t think so…

Sam is also a recovering alcoholic who is reevaluating her life; not quite a midlife crisis but a similar assessment. Her current 10+ year relationship with Stephen is not working for her. She loves him but is just not sure she wants to be with him anymore. Sam considers herself “androgynous” and has had relationships with men and women at various times. She’s a writer but not satisfied on that front, either. Sam has lots of questions about her mother who vanished in the woods surrounding her inherited cabin named HEMLOCK, in Wisconsin’s north woods, where she’s gone to sort her life.

Faliveno has a lovely way with descriptive prose. Her language is atmospheric and creates characters of HEMLOCK, (the rundown cabin), and surrounding woods. Readers will find much to ponder with the relationship between Sam, the cabin and their transformations.

Sam and the cabin are ponderable but there is a doe that visits with Sam and speaks to her that defies most rational thinking; or is there? It shows up a lot. Maybe it’s a function of alcoholism? All times of the day and night Could it be dreaming? When she’s drunk and sober. Do you believe in communication from those who have gone on before you? So many possibilities and this tiny mountain village has a few interesting neighbors that want to offer Sam a lending hand; or do they? Inquiring minds want…need to know about the doe.

I spent a bunch of time wondering if the title of the book was a clue. Do you know what hemlock can do? Main character, Sam, spends a lot of time thinking and wondering about her entire life. Her partner, Stephen, is wondering about her.

Recommended for readers who don’t need quick, easy answers, enjoy psychological conundrums, aren’t offended by R rated, sapphic sexual encounters and a full complement of foul language📚

Read and Reviewed from a NetGalley eARC via Kindle, with thanks to the publisher and author

[Rach A.]

butch black swan??? say less

[Kaitlyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The concept for this novel was so cool…and it fell completely flat. The plot was weak and hinged entirely on the inner workings of the main character who was unreliable and unlikable but not in a dynamic and intriguing way—just in an insufferable way.

It feels like an endless stream of the character’s “self introspection” and recounting of past traumas that do almost nothing for the plot and somehow made me as a reader less interested in what was going on. About halfway through, I had this distinct feeling (and I’ve never felt this so starkly while reading a novel) that this main character wasn’t a character at all but just a slightly fictionalized version of the author, and one Google proved me right! The author looks the same as our character, had the same job, lived in the same places, you name it. Of course, elements of an author will show up in characters they write from time to time but it felt immediately clear that this character was not written to be an interesting main character, but instead to be a different version of the writer.

The book is clearly trying to be a metaphor for processing trauma and addiction and self identity but in the end it just felt like the author trying to process those things themselves while completely disregarding plot, character development, and all of the things that make a good novel.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the ARC! Sorry I didn’t like the book!

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy of, Hemlock, by Melissa Faliveno, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Sam is an addict, she goes to Hemlock, her family's cabin in the woods and starts drinking. This book was way to depressing for me.

[Stacy (Gotham City Librarian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Review coming soon!

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely, bittersweet book about Sam--newly sober--who leaves boyfriend Stephen behind when she travels to her family's cabin in the woods that's been abandoned since her mom took off and was never found. She's determined to fix it up and sell it to give the money to her aging father. But it's lonely and the bars are calling; eventually she hears a doe "speaking" to her. But she continues on her quest to repair things and even at times when it's painful to read, we know Sam has a good heart and will hopefully find a way to live fully!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Harley Zerega · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not entirely convinced that 'a butch Black Swan' captures the full scope of this novel, but the description was intriguing enough to pull me in. I'm glad it did.

Hemlock follows Sam, a longtime alcoholic who returns to her parents' remote Wisconsin cabin. When she leaves for the cabin, she intends to stay for a few weeks to repair the cabin before returning to New York. New York. But as she falls back into drinking and sinks deeper into the isolation of the woods, her plans and sense of self begin to unravel. Her 10+ year relationship with Stephen, her career as a writer, and her identity all feel increasingly uncertain as she spends time in the forest.

Melissa Faliveno's writing is vivid and atmospheric. Her prose transports you to these damp, eerily quiet Wisconsin woods, where Sam undergoes her slow, uncanny transformation. My favorite parts of this novel were the horror and magical realism elements. There is a doe who speaks with Sam, and Sam wakes in the woods multiple times with no memory of how she got there. Because Sam is an unreliable narrator through her alcoholism, every strange moment carries a question: what's real, and what's the booze? I also loved that Faliveno didn't answer all the questions that arose. Hemlock is a haunting novel that leaves you thinking long after you read the last page.

[Corky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark introspection in the Northwoods. This novel caught my eye as a fellow Wisconsinite. I loved the queries into identity, addiction, and one's relationship with nature. The nods to having formerly been religious and the way that absence lingers were some of my favorite excerpts.

The atmosphere and internal reflections were rich, while secondary characters and the practicalities of life were lacking details and order.

[Maggie Ginsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book in one sitting, which is highly unusual for me. I couldn’t put it down. I first fell in love with this author’s prose and nuanced take through Tomboyland, and Hemlock has all of that and more, and it’s the more that resonates for those of us who recognize the particular monsters that haunt this spectacular debut novel. Also: What a MOOD. I loved every exquisite page.

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one surprised me! It’s quiet but heavy, and the writing pulls you in little by little. I liked following Sam as she went back to the cabin and started slipping between grief, memory, and something she couldn’t explain. It’s sad, eerie, and raw in a way that sticks with you!

[Alison Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise is gothic and haunting, but the prose is so grounded and the emotions so relatable. I had no idea where the story was taking me, in the best way. I want to give this book to everyone I love and to anyone who's ever had to fight to feel at home in their body or in this world.

[Jensen McCorkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick very high level summary.
This story follows a woman (Sam) who has worked hard to remain sober when she returns to the family cabin in the woods where her mom disappeared. She returns to the dilapidated cabin with the hopes of restoring it for her dad. While there Sam begins to crack around the edges and fall apart just like the cabin. She begins drinking again, feels like she is being watched and starts hearing then eventually talking to a doe she has been feeding. She begins to question her sanity and relive her memories of her mother and grandmothers mental deterioration.

My Take.
he writing was so well done I could actually feel the emotions that the MC was going through. It has a dark and decaying feel to the writing with supernatural elements leaving an ambiguity surrounding events taking place. This ambiguity contributing to the mystery and the feeling of unease. There is so much ambiguity or uncertainty is going on in the environment around Sam as well as within Sam. Sam seems to struggle with her gender identity, sexuality and feelings of acceptance. Our MC Sam also struggle with secrets from her families past that play a crucial role in the story. Often blurring the lines between past and present.

This story explores themes like oppression, guilt, madness, and decay. All the beautifully macabre and darker aspects of human nature and I enjoyed every minute of it.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I kind of hate books that are like “is this person going insane or is it the alcohol” they just don’t really do it for me. That said I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t really like it either. Very middle of the road for me. “Butch Black Swan” is genius marketing but your book has gotta live up to that title and this one just didn’t.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book review: Melissa Faliveno’s Hemlock.
Little, Brown and Company, with sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted ARC.

There’s a particular kind of book that asks you to slow down, lower your guard, and follow it into the trees, even when every sensible instinct says not to. Hemlock is exactly that kind of novel. It’s quiet, eerie, deeply interior, and steeped in the sort of unease that doesn’t shout but hums steadily in the background. I read it curled up, cozy in the literal sense, while feeling distinctly un-cozy on the inside, which is honestly my favorite reading experience.

Sam is finally sober, finally stable, finally doing all the things she’s supposed to be doing. She has a long-term boyfriend, a cat, and a life in Brooklyn that looks functional from the outside. Then she returns alone to her family’s crumbling cabin in the Wisconsin Northwoods, the place where her mother vanished years earlier, and everything starts to slip. The cabin feels less like a building and more like a living archive of grief, addiction, and inheritance. Faliveno writes the setting so vividly that the woods feel sentient, watchful, and a little bit hungry.

This is a novel about addiction that doesn’t flinch. It understands how relapse often begins with practicality and self-justification, not melodrama. One beer. One night. One small decision that opens a door you thought you’d sealed shut. As Sam drinks, the world tilts. Reality softens at the edges. A doe appears. Or speaks. Or remembers. The book never rushes to explain itself, and I appreciated that trust in the reader. The ambiguity feels intentional, mirroring Sam’s own inability to tell what’s real, what’s memory, and what’s desire.

Faliveno’s prose is lush without being indulgent. The body horror elements are subtle but effective, tied closely to identity and transformation rather than shock value. This is very much a queer Gothic novel, not because it announces itself as one, but because of how it interrogates the body, gender, inheritance, and the fear of becoming what came before you. It reminded me that Gothic fiction works best when the monster might be external, internal, or entirely metaphorical.

One quote that perfectly captures the emotional core of this book: “Growing up in a family of drunks, you learn a few things. First, everyone has the ability to let you down, and probably will.” That sentence landed hard, and it stayed with me. It encapsulates the grief, self-blame, and warped self-reliance that ripple through Sam’s story.

I won’t pretend this is an easy or comforting read in the traditional sense. It’s slow, introspective, and deeply uncomfortable at times. But it’s also thoughtful, atmospheric, and emotionally honest. Hemlock doesn’t offer tidy resolutions or clear answers. Instead, it invites you to sit with uncertainty, with craving, with the strange beauty of becoming something new, even if that transformation feels frightening.

If you’re a reader who loves literary fiction with Gothic tension, queer themes, and a strong sense of place, this one is worth stepping into. Just maybe don’t read it right before a solo cabin trip.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (4.5 stars)

#Hemlock #MelissaFaliveno #BookReview #QueerGothic #LiteraryFiction #NetGalley #ARCReview #LittleBrownAndCompany #LGBTQBooks #GothicFiction #2026Releases #BookBlogger #QueerLiterature

[Indra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hemlock by Melissa Faliveno
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for the ARC! 🌿📖🫶

There’s something chilling and intimate about this book, like stepping into the woods alone and realizing the trees are whispering your name.

Hemlock is part queer Gothic, part psychological unraveling, and part fever dream. The lines between woman, wilderness, memory, and monster start to blur until you’re not sure if you’re reading a story about addiction and grief… or a descent into something ancient and feral. 🦌🕯️🌧️

• Gorgeous, lyrical prose: heavy with atmosphere and dread
• Sam is a deeply introspective, flawed, and vulnerable protagonist
• The cabin and woods feel alive, like characters with secrets of their own
• Haunting imagery, strange neighbors, talking animals, and shadowy loss

But it’s also a slow, murky read, deliberately disorienting.

• Readers wanting tidy resolutions or a fast-paced plot may feel adrift
• Some elements (like the talking doe or surreal body horror) toe the line between brilliant and bewildering
• Sam’s introspection can feel repetitive or indulgent depending on your patience with literary fiction
• Feels personal to the point of metafiction which may not work for everyone

Still, I found myself caught in the emotional tangle of it all. 💔 The grief, the disassociation, the queer longing, the rot and rebirth, it’s all here in messy, poetic, and sometimes painful detail. Hemlock won’t be for everyone, but for the right reader, it’s going to bloom into something unforgettable.

4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
This book howls quietly, but it echoes deep.

[Dive Into A Good Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are you ready to be swept up into Wisconsin's atmospheric Northwoods. Where the number of serial killers runs high. Yet people still leave their front doors unlocked. Each carving out a niche of their own amongst the trees and animals. A place you could disappear if you desired. A place where you can take a deep hard look at yourself. It is also a lonely place. Sam grew up in this area, her father built their cabin with his own two hands. Her parents named their place Hemlock. Its name fits for many reasons. This is also the place where her mother vanished one day into the woods. No one has ever found her or her body. Leaving Sam with some major trust issues. As she saw all of her adult people pull away and build up their own armor to get through this trying time.

Years later Sam has built a life in New York City. She has a boyfriend of ten years, an apartment that feels like home, and added a cat to be included into her family. Sam's father wants to sell Hemlock, and Sam has volunteered to help get it ready. As she drives away from Stephen and her life, she feels an awakening within her soul. Once she parks in the dark driveway of her past, she knows exactly where everything is. Yet the hair on her body stands erect. While in the woods Sam falls back into the rhythm of drinking, after being sober a year. She begins to black out, waking up in different parts of the woods and having discussions with a deer. Sam feels herself change from within to her physical appearance. Body hair begins to sprout, muscles becoming more defined. As she eats less and drinks more.

This is an emotional book that surrounds the addiction to alcohol. How Sam's mom and grandmother also took to the bottle and never found their way out. It became a bit rhythmic and circular in the middle of the book. I felt like i was on a ride and could not get off. The descriptions made me feel like I was standing in the middle of the woods. Hearing the pecking of the woodpecker, the swaying limbs, and the fear that slowly encroaches as the woods closes in. Thank you to Melissa Faliveno and Little Brown and Company for my gifted copy.

[Hope Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hemlock had an intriguing premise and plenty of promise, but it never came close to delivering on either. What begins as a potentially eerie, psychologically charged story instead settles into a long, heavy trudge through despair with very little narrative payoff.

The atmosphere is relentlessly bleak. Not tense, not unsettling in a compelling way, just depressing. The woods, the cabin, the isolation, the addiction spiral all blur together into an unchanging gray tone. After a while, the book stops building mood and starts wallowing in it. Darkness alone is not depth, and this novel seems to confuse the two.

Sam’s internal struggles are clearly meant to anchor the story, but the constant introspection becomes exhausting rather than illuminating. Pages pass with little forward movement, and the plot feels less like it is unfolding and more like it is stalled. The story hints at transformation, mystery, or revelation, but repeatedly refuses to commit to any of them.

There are moments of strong prose, but they are buried under repetition and emotional inertia. Scenes that should feel significant arrive without impact, and by the time the book ends, it feels less like a conclusion and more like the author simply stopped writing.

Hemlock is not subtle, not cathartic, and not particularly rewarding. It never rises to the level its premise suggests and ultimately feels like an exercise in sustained misery without purpose. Two stars for the occasional flashes of good writing, but overall this was a frustrating and dispiriting read.

[PeachesnScreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Sam, a woman who has gained her sobriety and seems to have found the life of a normal functioning human - a boyfriend back home and even a cat. Years ago, her mother went missing and never returned to their cabin in the woods of Wisconsin, and Sam takes what was supposed to be a quick trip to fix it up. Addiction rears its ugly head again as loneliness and fear set in, and Sam finds herself faced with things she never thought possible. Is it the drink? Or is it something much more malevolent?

Sam is a captivating character and the cabin she returns to is a dark, harrowing place. The descriptions used by this author are deep and intricate, working to create a strong image of Sam's life in this strange world. This book tackles many emotions, especially a questioning of one's identity through glimpses into the past and present, questioning sexuality and an inwards guilt leading to madness.

While I enjoyed this book, I found that sometimes the descriptions were too long-winded - there certainly was not a lack of imagery. For this being the author's debut novel, I have much hope for what they should write in the future!

Much thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I've been looking ffor ages, so thank you, Melissa Faliveno, for writing it.

Set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Sam returns to her family's cabin to fix it up before selling it. But the cabin isn't the only inheritance that makes itself known. Struggling with her sobriety, Sam must reckon with the person she is versus the person she wants to be, and discovers that no matter how far you go from home, it is always with you.

The descriptions in HEMLOCK were incredible; everything was sketched out so vividly. There were so many tiny details of how life works in northern Wisconsin that absolutely captured the essence of Up North, both the good and the bad.

The book was scary, but in a way that makes you scared of the human condition, not the things in the woods.

Following Sam as she fights with herself, her past, and her future broke my heart over and over again, and I'll be buying whatever this author writes from now on.

[Kristen P · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 ☆

Dark and foreboding, this atmospheric novel follows Sam as she returns to her parents' cabin in the Wisconsin woods. She's there to fix up the cabin with the potential of selling it, but the longer she stays, the more she feels a need to stay. As the story progresses, we watch as Sam unravels as she struggles with identity, dependency, grief, and is potentially losing her mind.

The writing is tense, compelling and wonderfully atmospheric. You can almost feel the woods surrounding you and the sounds of woodland creatures in the distance. There is a sense of foreboding present throughout the story which did contribute to some disappoint as it felt like it should have resulted in a larger climax. The ending was a bit lackluster in comparison to the persistent tense vibe throughout the story. Overall though, a very solid debut novel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher, Little, Brown and Company, for early access.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review of Digital Galley

Sam returns to her family’s cabin, deep in the Northwoods of Wisconsin . . . the place where she’d spent so much time as a child; the place that always called her back.

Now she plans to restore the cabin [her inheritance] and sell it.

But is she restoring the cabin or is she seeking to bring redemption into her life?

=========

This tale of generational alcoholism is often difficult to read; despair and grief oozes through the pages. It’s definitely a dark tale of anger, guilt, and despair.

Atmospheric, emotional, and character-driven, this may not be a story for every reader, but the writing here is evocative and compelling, drawing the reader into Sam's world.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#Hemlock #NetGalley

[Andy Krahling · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.

I liked this. It kept me engaged and entertained, and I cared about Sam. I appreciated the connection with the Northwoods setting, and the flashbacks/history of Sam's addiction and past troubles set the current scene quite well.

My biggest negative, and I don't think it's a spoiler, is that when I finished, I wasn't quite sure where things ended up. I wan't quite sure why I enjoyed the story and the characters. The fact is, I did.

Atmospheric and moody, the writing was interesting and accessible.

I think there will be a nice market for this tale.

Will I read more from the author? Yes,

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and NetGslley, and my review is being left freely.

[T Madden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly entrancing, Hemlock captures the insularity and expansiveness of the psyche in isolation, not unlike the teeming abundance of the forest kingdom. Here in the Northwoods, the trees close in sounding more and more like water; animals speak in words; what is human might become earthly—the earthly, supernatural. With stunning and gothic prose, in the vein of Carson McCullers, Melissa Faliveno’s debut novel reveals the world anew and, in doing so, summons within readers a revelatory sense of presence, myth, and haunting.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Melissa Faliveno for an arc of this book!

This novel follows Sam who goes to a house in the woods to change the pace of her life. While she is there we follow her alcohol addiction and gender identity journey. One thing about the woods is they are haunted by her past and a doe that won’t seem to stay away. The authors writing style is great for anyone who loves good gothic imagery. This book is great for fans of gender identity and a hauntingly unique mystery of the woods and one’s place in the world.

[Stroop · Rating 3 out of 5]

A moody, eerie read. Sam is renovating her parents’ cabin deep in the woods in Wisconsin. She insists on doing everything on her own, with her boyfriend staying behind in NYC. Soon, she starts to hear noises. And is it possible that the deer is talking to her? And is the deer actually her mother who disappeared long ago? I enjoyed the writing style and the author manages to create a tense, creepy atmosphere throughout the chapters.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

[Caroline Hedges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intensely claustrophobic and a disturbing read. Sam’s slow dissent into madness and introspection got too heavy for me. It felt like an endless read with little happening to keep me fully engaged. I admit I found myself glossing over pages and racing to the end to find out how Sam’s story plays out.
The author has real skill in building atmosphere and a sense of place. I needed more dialogue to break the long description and back story.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

In between 2.5 and 3 stars.

‘Hemlock’ is an introspective novel with some unsettling moments akin to that feeling every woman knows when they hear a footstep behind them on a walk home alone late at night. The author does a good job of immersing you into the setting — I could imagine myself exactly at the cabin and town Sam resides in throughout the book.

Where the book falls short for me is the character development. We spend the majority of the novel in Sam’s head as she processes her past trauma, which comes at the cost of fleshing out other characters she interacts with. It’s difficult to fully feel the destructive impact of her addiction when her relationships carry no weight. The supernatural mysteries (whether “real” or not; we’re never really provided an answer either way) felt like overwrought metaphors at times included solely to keep the reader turning pages, which felt ultimately like a build up to nothing when there is no satisfying pay off.

It’s clear that Faliveno can write, and while this particular novel did not resonate strongly for me I’d be curious to see what their future books will be like.

Thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC!

[Maia Brandolini · Rating 4 out of 5]

the atmosphere of this book was soo immersive, i really enjoyed that. a quick and solid read!

[Kith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a really good book. I need to read it again to write a better review.