The Fault Mirror

by Catherine Fearns

Everyone sees the house they want to see... Paris, 1900: Amidst the decadence of the Belle Époque, American heiress Lydia Temple falls in love with ethereal aristocrat Séraphine de Valleiry, and builds her a whimsical castle in the Swiss mountains. The Chateau des Miroirs becomes a bastion of spiritualism until it is taken over by sinister forces during the First World War. And then it disappears. Or did it ever really exist? Oxford, 2035: Elderly professor Cyrus Field is rapidly losing his sight and his will to live, when student Haydn Young presents him with a collection of letters previously lost to history. These letters may contain the answer to the philosophical problem that has been his life’s work. But does he really want to know the truth? With war closing in, Cyrus and Haydn must decide whether to risk everything in the quest for knowledge. The mystery of the Chateau des Miroirs reverberates through the generations, connecting two souls that are destined to find each other.

Genres: Historical Fiction

218 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2025

Reviews

[ABCme · Rating 3 out of 5]

...how do we know that anything exists outside of ourselves? How do we know that we exist? Could we be nothing more than someone else's thought experiment?

A castle standing high on a cliff, built on a faultline, the rockwall on one side of the gorge obsedian black, a mirror into the soul.
In the early 1900's Lydia Temple buys the mountain of La Mandallaz, near the French-Swiss border and moves here with her lover Seraphine.
In the 1980's newly weds Daphne and Cyrus are making their way to Compostella when Daphne goes missing near the castle.
In 2035 Cyrus teaches philosophy at university when one of his students offers him a bunch of letters that might be connected to Daphes disappearance.

The letters appear from Lydia to Carl Jung, describing life at her new surroundings. But a modern day search shows no record of Lydia Temple or the existance of the castle. And what is her connection to Jung, where are his replies to her letters?
In a dual timeline the reader gets submerged in psychology, philosophy, quantum physics, blindspots and time theory.
While the letters from Lydia to Jung are upbeat and optimistic, they go deep. This is no light reading, at times not easy to comprehend. What is real, what is illusion?

The Fault Mirror is an exciting, well written story. The characters are likable, the setting abolutely stunning. Dark and moody, poetry in motion.

Thank you Netgalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for the ARC.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 ⭐ rounded down.

This is one of those books that feels rich in potential but ultimately falls flat! There are moments of brilliance here, particularly in the philosophical undertones and subtle apocalyptic worldbuilding.

Lydia and Seraphine's love story was genuinely touching. The way Lydia writes about Seraphine is romantic goals; however, the epistolary format held this back so much. Her letters would have been more impactful as diary entries.

Cyrus and Haydn's philosophical discussions are where the novel truly shines. Their dynamic, both together and with others, is engaging and thought-provoking. I also worried initially that their narrative might veer into an uncomfortable age-gap student/teacher romance, but thankfully, it didn't go there. Still, I wish that had been made more explicitly clear early on.

The real heartbreak of this was the final 10% imo. The ending felt completely disjointed and unsatisfying. I came this close to rage DNF'ing at 98%.

Worth noting: this is tagged as "Historical Fiction | LGBTQIAP+ | Sci Fi & Fantasy" on NetGalley, but there is nothing Sci-Fi/Fantasy about this until the very end. It's more of a speculative fiction/historical fiction with a sapphic romance.

Overall, this has a lot going on for it, but the execution doesn't quite deliver imo. Maybe this is a case of "it's not you, it's me"? Maybe it just started off on the wrong foot, and then everything else just built upon that? Idk the answers here, but I won't be recommending this.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and Quill & Crow for providing an ARC for my honest review.

[mtrics · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As the world approaches its end, an elderly professor of philosophy is confronted by one of his new students, who proposes a solution to the riddle that has confounded him his whole life: how can a house exist and not exist at the same time? Part Stoner by John Williams, part apocalyptic sci-fi, and part epistolary novel, The Fault Mirror is a strange blend of atmosphere and mystery that’s sure to keep you guessing until the very end.

First up: If, like me, you were worried about a potential romance between the 20-year-old student and the 80-year-old professor, rest assured, the book thankfully doesn’t go there! Still, I spent half the book clenching my butt in fear, so I wish it had been less subtle about their dynamic early on and thrown in more “granddaughter-like” comments.

The novel truly shines in its future timeline, set in 2035. Those scenes were my favorites, mostly because they focus on philosophical debates and quantum theories that are genuinely fascinating (and make for some great arguments between characters). They also made me nostalgic for my own university days, when knowledge was so specialized it sometimes felt totally pointless. I, too, spent hours arguing about the finer details of a bunch of nothing, and felt very clever doing it. The “food for thought” aspect of the book was hands-down my favorite part.

That said, I do have two major complaints. First, the writing starts off kind of overworked: it feels thesaurus-heavy and, at times, a bit try-hard. Second (and worse), the letters just didn’t work for me. It feels strange to choose an epistolary format and then write novel-like prose in the supposed correspondence between friends. For example, there are entire portions of verbatim dialogue written out in these letters (eg. "Foo," someone said, looking like so. Then they moved like so. "Bar," I replied, breath hitching). This felt unnatural and made it hard for me to connect with the characters or the past timeline. I wish these sections had been part of a diary instead, it would have felt much more believable, I think.

That said, I really enjoyed the book’s buildup to the climax. Things picked up for me in the final section, once the letters were out of the way, and the mystery just kept getting more complex and interesting. I didn’t completely love the resolution (SPOILERS FOR THE END) this is my third reincarnation book in a month, so I might just be tired of that trope. I’m also on the fence about the Akashic Records/Archivists twist. But what really frustrated me were the last-minute shifts in POV. The book establishes early on that each chapter uses a third-person limited POV and is titled after the POV character, so suddenly jumping between heads in the final chapters felt like cheating. I had to do a double-take in chapter 16 to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. Those two extra POVs in this chapter could easily have been their own short chapters instead...

All in all, while a few parts annoyed me, I genuinely enjoyed the 2035 sections and had a lot of fun with this book. I loved the characters (Kathryn!!), the carefully constructed mirroring between timelines, and the thrill of those mundane scholarly debates. The apocalyptic background was developed just enough to feel real without taking over the story. The Fault Mirror definitely stands out for a multitude of reasons; I’d recommend it wholeheartedly to philosophy nerds and lovers of speculative literary fiction.

[Raquelio poop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book and I am crying. That was such a beautiful love story. The way this story unfolds sucks you in and keeps you locked in from beginning to end. The whole concept is interesting and the way the imagery and sensory hits you is incredible. I truly imagined myself in Cyrus' shoes, and his increasing blindness. I almost wish it didn't end because I want more, but its truly perfect as it is.


In letters to her friend and doctor, Lydia details how she's fallen in love with Seraphine and becomes inspired to build a fairytale mansion on a mountain with another mountain that reflects like a mirror next to it. As they settle in and start hosting friends, strange things start happening and changing around them.

Cyrus is given these letters by a mysterious student and challenged to find out why Lydia seems to have been erased from history.


(I received this as a arc)

[Julianne Dell · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. This book is phenomenal. I just… wow again. It’s been a long time since I’ve highlighted so many passages because the writing was that profound. The Fault Mirror is brilliantly written—intelligent, layered, and deeply philosophical. There’s so much to unpack in its intersections of physics, philosophy, and human emotion. At times I felt like I wasn’t quite smart enough to fully grasp it all, but it’s articulated clearly enough that you can still follow the threads and marvel at the ideas.
I loved Lydia’s character—her letters were some of my favorite parts, and honestly, I almost wish we had more of them (and a little less of Cyrus). The central mystery of the disappearing house kept me flipping pages, and the moment the drone revealed a false view was such a striking, eerie detail.
If I have one small wish, it’s that the reveal had landed with a bit more weight—but even so, the cyclical ending is hauntingly beautiful. The repetition of the pattern ties the entire concept together in such an elegant, unsettling way.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Told in two timelines, The Fault Mirror gradually drew me in with its blend of mystery, history, philosophy, and romance. In 2035, philosophy professor Cyrus Field has spent most of his career teaching the Disappearing House problem, but it is only the arrival of a new student, Haydn, which brings him closer to the truth. His regret and determination to solve a decades long mystery formed the heart of the story and kept me reading. I was less engaged by the second timeline set in the early 20th century, which features decadent American heiress Lydia Temple, who builds a mansion for her lover, Seraphine.

The philosophical elements occasionally went over my head, but even then, I found them intriguing and appreciated how they added to the story. I’m not sure I fully understood the ending, but overall, this is a captivating and mysterious read and very close to four stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The past is never truly gone—it lingers in the shadows, waiting to be seen in the fault lines of our memories, where truth and illusion intertwine.”

Catherine Fearns’ The Fault Mirror is a beautifully haunting gothic novel that immerses readers in an eerie, atmospheric world rich with mystery, melancholy, and intellectual intrigue. Set between the opulent Belle Époque Paris of 1900 and a near-future Paris in 2035, the novel weaves two intertwined narratives that explore the nature of love, memory, and reality itself.

At the heart of the story is the tragic and passionate relationship between Lydia Temple, an American heiress, and Séraphine de Valleiry, an enigmatic French aristocrat. Their love is tender yet shadowed by societal constraints and secrets, set against the backdrop of a world on the brink of transformation. The lush, detailed descriptions of Parisian salons, mirrored ballrooms, and the remote, enigmatic Château des Miroirs create a gothic setting that feels almost alive—its reflections mirroring not just the characters’ faces, but their inner turmoil and desires.

Parallel to this historical tale is the story of Cyrus Field, a philosophy professor in 2035 who uncovers a collection of letters revealing a centuries-old mystery linked to the “fault mirror”—a metaphysical conundrum involving perception, identity, and truth. Cyrus’s journey is cerebral and introspective, providing a modern counterpoint to the passionate and sometimes tragic romance of Lydia and Séraphine. This dual timeline structure enriches the novel’s thematic complexity, asking profound questions about how memory shapes reality and whether the past can ever truly be understood.

Fearns’ prose is elegant and evocative, perfectly capturing the gothic ambiance with its interplay of light and shadow, beauty and decay. The pacing is deliberate, encouraging readers to savor each moment, each revelation, and to become fully immersed in the book’s layered narrative. While this slower pace may not appeal to everyone, it allows the emotional depth and philosophical underpinnings of the story to resonate more powerfully.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths lies in its character development. Lydia and Séraphine are richly drawn, their emotions raw and believable, their flaws making their love all the more poignant. Cyrus offers a thoughtful, contemplative presence, his academic quest grounding the ethereal romance in a modern framework. Together, these characters embody the tension between heart and mind, between feeling and understanding.

The gothic elements—haunted spaces, secrets lurking in mirrors, and a pervasive sense of melancholy—are woven seamlessly into the narrative. The château itself acts almost as a character, a place of reflection and revelation where the boundaries between reality and illusion blur. Themes of grief, identity, and the elusive nature of truth echo through the story, inviting readers to reflect on their own perceptions and the stories they tell themselves.

In conclusion, The Fault Mirror is a richly textured gothic novel that combines romance, mystery, and philosophy into a compelling whole. It’s a book for readers who appreciate atmospheric storytelling and don’t mind a slower, more introspective pace. With its haunting setting, complex characters, and thought-provoking themes, it’s a rewarding read that lingers long after the final page.

Gothic Romance — A brooding, atmospheric love story set in a mysterious, sometimes eerie setting.

Dual Timelines — Two stories unfolding in different time periods that are connected thematically or through characters.

Forbidden Love — A romance constrained by social norms, secrets, or external pressures.

Haunted House / Mansion — The Château des Miroirs acts as a symbolic and literal haunted setting, filled with secrets.

Philosophical Mystery — Exploration of deep questions about reality, identity, and perception woven into the plot.

Slow Burn Romance — A gradual development of emotional connection and intimacy between characters.

Unreliable Memory — Characters struggle to trust their own recollections, blurring the line between truth and illusion.

Atmospheric Setting — A richly described environment that almost becomes a character itself.

Tragic Romance — Love that faces significant hardships, often ending in loss or sacrifice.

Intellectual Protagonist — Characters who approach problems with thoughtful, philosophical introspection.

[Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

🖤 ‘Nothing is possible without love… for love puts one in the mood to risk everything.’ 🖤

I would rate this book 4.5 ⭐️

This book had so much depth- it was both an emotional story but also incredibly interesting and philosophical. This is unlike any book I have read before and I would definitely recommend that people read it. Especially if you are someone that has questions about the world and the universe and the questions that we as people have not, and probably never will be able to answer. This is an incredibly well written book! ✨

🖤 ‘We are surrounded by space, time, and death for a reason- otherwise, we would not give our actions the same importance. It is the very limited nature of our life, the fleetingness, that makes it so precious. That’s why I try to seize moments- those moments would be meaningless if they were infinite.’ 🖤

In The Fault Mirror, we follow Professor Cyrus Field, an 80 year old philosophy professor at Oxford university. He has spent his life’s career dedicated to solving one problem, a study called The Disappearing House. He tells his students that this is based on theory, just a case study to explain philosophical concepts. But in reality, it is based on his own experience. On his honeymoon in Geneva, his wife Daphne lead him to a cliff face overlooking the ocean, claiming to see a beautiful, fairytale-esque home on the very edge, that she believes she has seen before. A house that he could not see.

On the trip, Daphne later returns alone to see this house, and never returns. Cyrus has spent his life trying to figure out the mystery of the Disappearing House, and his wife’s disappearance, to no avail. Until one day, a student called Haydn comes to him with a stack of old letters from 1900’s, where an American heiress Lydia Temple writes to a friend discussing that she has fallen in love with an ethereal aristocrat Séraphine de Valleir. She also talks about their whimsical castle they built in the Swiss Mountains, called The Chateau des Miroirs, which sounds awfully like the house that Cyrus’s wife saw that he believes never existed. Cyrus has to decide whether he wants to uncover the real truth about the house and his wife’s disappearance- with war closing in and his vision depleting, it really is now or never for him to get his answers. 🩶

🖤 ‘They didn’t invent the nuclear bomb to stop a war, to save the world from evil. A bomb to stop a war is a contradiction in terms. Men invented the bomb to see if they could. The vaulting ambition to know. They wanted to believe they could. So it’s all about what we are prepared to believe.’ 🖤

The characters in this book were very enjoyable to read about. I really enjoyed the switch between reading about Cyrus and his life in his present day, and reading the letters from Lydia about her and Séraphine, and piecing together how they link together. Love was described in a very beautiful way by Lydia in her letters- you feel you can really connect with and understand her and her feelings. You also get a picture into what it was like for a woman in the 1900’s and the hardships they would have experienced, especially with the relationship she had with Séraphine, who was also a woman. I also really liked the topics that Cyrus, Haydn and the other professors discuss- particularly about the mysteries of life and questions we cannot answer. I found all of the philosophical theories the author talks about and mentions very interesting. 🩶

I also found it very interesting what was said about the impending war, both in the letters in the 1900’s and by Cyrus in 2035. It feels a lot like the conversations that society has about war in our present day society. It also shows that things like that never really change even as time goes on- that war has seemed an unfortunate inevitability, possibly because of our nature as humans.

🖤 ‘Do you want to know something else funny? Here we are at the end of the world, and I have never been this happy.’ 🖤

The Fault Mirror was an incredibly interesting and unique book, full of emotions and philosophical questions- I highly recommend it! 🌙

Thank you to Netgalley and Quill and Crow for approving me for this ARC! I loved it 🩶🐦‍⬛

[Meredith Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, the Fault Mirror is a beautifully written book. It's incredibly smart, entangling philosophy, quantum physics, mysticism, and magic realism in a story about the nuclear end of the world and how two lovers have struggled to find each other over and over again.

I cannot recommend it highly enough to people who love the approaches of magic realism. Magic realism has certain artistic trends -- a certain turn of phrase, a way of using the real world to try to support and explain things that are magical, and a sort of magical thinking of many of the characters. Everyone talks the same way, to support the dreamlike narrative and sort of blend who is who into each other (a major theme of this book). It makes other characters part of Cyrus's narrative; we only have 'his word' that what they're doing, saying, or feeling is true, and that's indicated by having almost identical turns of speech as if he (or someone else, perhaps, per the epilogue) are telling the story about them through his own perspective. People's pasts are not entirely real except in how they interact with the point of view characters in the moment; why does Kathryn not seem to exist or have attention paid until Cyrus pays her attention? Because Cyrus is the pov. Why has she held a torch all this time instead of living her own life? Because that's one of the themes. Why has Roy held them apart? Because he's meant to, because it Wasn't Time Yet. Themes of blindness and observation are tied together where the mind's eye still counts as observation. And so forth and so on.

It's a wonderful execution of the type of story it wants to be. It breaks some of the worser tropes (it's not obligatorily heterosexual, the old professor doesn't have an affair with his young student despite both characters appearing in it, etc). I personally am not a fan of this genre or the choices that go with them them; because of that, it takes a really extraordinarily specific type of approach to it to win me over, and this didn't quite do that. I don't love the lack of distinct character voices, or the intrusion of biased povs causing the narrative to be altered all the way up to God or something like it acting as its own pov and presenting specific images the characters cannot put aside because it's what they're seeing. If nature itself, if the Akashic Record lies to our protagonists, the only ultimate conclusion is that there IS a reality, and it's what someone out there wants us to see, and the observing of it means that the locked-in-timeness of Schroedinger's cat is, uh, determined by a set of greater beings, who are also possibly versions of some of our protagonists in one of the timelines as they can see all timelines at once and try to feed out additional kindnesses as they did constantly in life. I think I understand what this book wants to tell me. It's just not something to my personal taste; I didn't feel like I was reading a book for what I want to read books for (engaging with the characters' lives and circumstances) but actually following an invented philosophical case study myself. And sure, all fiction is at its core political, philosophical art, but some are more overtly a theorem rather than a story, you know?

That's my personal taste, however, so it won't impact my final star rating -- this book set out to do something and I think it did it pretty well. There was one detail at the very, very end I didn't think it quite succeeded at for me (and is a huge spoiler so I won't put down here, but it felt somewhat contradictory to what we'd just been overtly told), but other than that I feel like it soundly achieved its goals, and if you're into magical realism, quantum physics, and philosophy along with a love story that would defy, well, everything? You should check this out.

[Claressa Hallman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley, Catherine Fearns, and Quill & Crow for the opportunity to read this ARC and provide feedback.

In the early 1900s, couple Lydia and Seraphine move to Switzerland to improve Seraphine's health. Finding solace in the mountains, Lydia builds a house for them near an obsidian fault mirror. Time and space cease to exist in their mountain home as Seraphine embraces the study of astral planes and Lydia slowly begins to feel out of place in her world.

In 1980, Honeymooners Cyrus and Daphne are in Switzerland. Daphne becomes infatuated with a disappearing house and she, herself, will eventually disappear leaving Cyrus to puzzle the mystery for the rest of his life.

In a war-torn 2035, Cyrus is a college professor that forms an unlikely partnership with a student that believes the disappearing house exists. Will Cyrus and Hadyn solve the mystery before the world ends?

This book reads more into the Sci-Fi genre than fantasy, which was relatively new for me. It also speaks heavily of the impending apocalypse - so if that is a trigger this book might not be for you.

I truly wanted to enjoy this book but there were several things that just missed the mark for me, primarily when it came to the characters.

📌I did not find any of the characters to be likeable. I found it very hard to empathize or relate to them on any level.
📌The development of Seraphine and Lydia was the strongest of all characters, however, I found the characters to be shallow and self-indulgent for the most part. The switch to selflessness during the war was dramatic and seemed out of character.
📌Cyrus and Daphne's relationship and characters were not developed prior to her disappearance and it was hard to understand his life's mission to understand the disappearing house when the few interactions they had seemed strained and forced.
📌Other than Hadyn being related in a distanced way to Lydia's confidant, it is not explained early on why she's interested in the disappearing house which makes her sporadic involvement in the first 75% of the book confusing.

Furthermore, the nonchalant attitude toward the war and impending apocalypse was disturbing and unbelievable. Not knowing the length of the war, the cause of it, or the scope of it really made for an underwhelming plot point.

The last couple chapters had a twist but too much dialogue existed around it which resulted in it being underwhelming.

Overall, I wish this book focused more on character development and plot explanation then it did on explaining scientific principles. The idea, although unique and full of potential, just didn't have what it needed to keep my attention and entertain. It is a debut novel, and I would read other works by Catherine Fearns in the future.

[Ana Beatriz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Fault Mirror was a very curious reading experience, and I can confidently say I have never read anything quite like it. It started off strong but just kept going downhill to eventually crash at the end.

The characters had a lot of potential, but they were not fully fleshed out, perhaps due to the book’s length. I loved the idea of Lydia, but she didn’t feel real (no pun intended). I understand that the 1910s timeline is entirely told through letters, which naturally leads to a lot of telling and not much showing, and that is one of the reasons why I think diary or journal entries would be a way better fit. Not only would journal entries make it easier for the author to provide some backstory to the characters, but it would also be a more natural way for the reader to get to know about the events that happened in the story. The narrator fully describing scenes—dialogue included—in letters to her ex-psychiatrist was just very weird. That being said, I did really enjoy the more flowery language.

I really did not care about Cyrus or Hadyn—who, for being one of the main characters, really had no personality—but I did enjoy Kathryn and wish she had been introduced earlier.

I really appreciated the discussions that were brought up and thought that the parallel between WW1 and whatever catastrophic event was about to happen on the future timeline was a nice addition. I think the book would be better off if it ditched the mysticism aspect and focused solely on the philosophy/physics discussions (which, although a bit repetitive, were actually very interesting).

Overall, I think The Fault Mirror should have been longer for character and relationship development and explanation about this apocalypse happening in the 2030s. I also feel like the Chateau itself was underused as a physical place, since for most of the novel it was referred to more as an idea.

(2.5 stars)

[Kozyreadsxo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this one. The premise was eerie and atmospheric—exactly the kind of setup that immediately draws me in. As my first book in this genre, I went in curious and ready to be surprised.
The characters showed real potential, especially Lydia and Seraphine. Their story was genuinely heartfelt and tender, easily the strongest element of the entire book. Cyrus brought intellectual weight with his academic perspective, but his sections often felt weighed down by unnecessarily complex vocabulary that pulled me out of the story. Haydn balanced some of the heavier philosophical discussions well, but the constant switching between letters and Cyrus's POV kept breaking my immersion.
The language itself became a significant barrier. I don't mind looking up the occasional unfamiliar word, but having to pause every few paragraphs completely killed the atmosphere for me. While the complex vocabulary made sense for Cyrus as a university professor, I found myself wishing for footnotes or an appendix with definitions. This would be especially helpful for non-native readers who might find the experience more frustrating than engaging.
The story had moments that worked beautifully—Lydia and Seraphine's romance stands out as genuinely moving—but everything else felt like it needed more development to truly resonate. There were glimpses of something compelling, but they never quite came together into a cohesive whole.
This ended up being a mixed reading experience for me. While I appreciated certain elements, particularly the central relationship, the execution didn't leave the lasting impression I was hoping for.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing for the free e-ARC.

Giving this 3.5 stars.

Genre-wise, this book is hard to pin down precisely. It's partly historical fiction, with Lydia's early 20th century letters, but at least half the book is set in the slightly dystopian near future of 2035. There are also hints of supernatural/fantastic elements at play, but probably not enough to call this a fantasy. The blend works together well, I think, but if you're looking for straight-up historical fiction, this may not be for you.

I was hooked in the first half, not gonna lie, by the mystery of the disappearing house, and by Lydia Temple's letters. I found myself wanting to know more about the house and its history, what happened to Daphne, and whether there really was something supernatural going on here. I was also intrigued by the 2035 setting, so familiar in both good and bad ways.

I think that where the book lost me was the frequent deep discussions of philosophy and physics - two subjects that I, personally, have little interest in. Of course, this is a me-problem, and I'm sure that some people will love this. I commend the author for being willing to dive into such deep topics, but I'm not too proud to admit that they went over my head.

Overall, this book is a fascinating blend. I'm not sure it will have broad appeal, but to certain readers, this could well be a favorite. It's got history, science, philosphy, mystery, and a touch of dystopian and fantasy (and yes, some queer rep as well, in Lydia's letters). If you're looking for something new and different, maybe give this a try.

[tjthebooknerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

👊 For such a short book, this really packed a punch. 👊

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

In The Fault Mirror we are taken on a journey through time from ~1900s to ~2035 from the perspectives of character’s creating a peculiar mansion in the Swiss Mountains and those in a future time trying to prove the existence of said house. The question is did the house ever exist or did it somehow disappear?

There are some ABSOLUTE character stand outs. We have the eccentric Lydia from the 1920s whose words jump off the page so vibrantly you feel as if she is there with you sharing her story. As well the mild-mannered vision deteriorating Cyrus, full of wonderful philosophical observations and his debates with his student, Haydn, who throws a bit of physics in there too.

Great nature descriptions as well. This house is supposedly situated in a glossy obsidian gorge which actually reminds me of its opposite real life counterpart, the white limestone of Taroko gorge that I happened to visit in Taiwan a few years back.

The writing was so beautiful, reminiscent of the flow of a gentle river. I enjoyed the complexity of the vocabulary too, enough to keep me interested but not overwhelming.

Some really wonderful quotes (subject to change, since this is an ARC):
‘Where would we be without yearning? That is what drives humanity.’
‘Sometimes I feel I am caught in a nest of very stupid vipers’
‘We all see what we want to see in the mirror’

Happy Publication Day (Nov 8)! 🎉 Thank you to Catherine Fearns, Quill & Crow Publishing House and Netgalley for this ARC!

[Cindy Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1985, on their honeymoon, Daphne and Cyrus visit an area on the border of France and Switzerland where Daphne is sure there is a castle on top of a mountain that she has seen in her dreams. But after neither see the castle, Daphne returns by herself and climbs toward the castle which she now sees. Then in 2035 Cyrus is an elderly Don at Oxford U teaching philosophy and introducing his course with the problem of the "disappearing house." Haydn, a student in his class, believes the house is real and gives Cyrus a package of letters sent by a woman named Lydia Trent to the psychiatrist Carl Jung in the early 1900s. In these letters, Lydia recounts a love affair with a woman named Seraphine and describes how she built a castle at the top of a mountain.

The novel intersperses Lydia's letters with Cyrus' reactions to Haydn and the letters. In these latter chapters there is a lot of discussion about both physics and philosophy as Cyrus attempts to figure out if the castle is real and how it disappears and reappears. The fault mirror of the title is the process by which the mountain made of obsidian reflects back the castle to its inhabitants.

While this is an incredibly interesting book, I struggled to understand the philosophical and physics principles and laws it described. That made the book harder to enjoy. I was fascinated by the book's perspectives on the issue of time, but again, found them difficult to understand.

I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Clairiefaerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was interesting, atmospheric, chilling and so beautiful. It is a gentle horror story but it’s also so much more than that, it’s also a story about love and what it means to be running out of time.

What I loved in particular:
- the author took the idea of mirrors and masterfully dispersed them through the story. Lydia and her friends are preparing for the onset of the First World War and in 2035 the characters are preparing for an apocalyptic war. Cyrus’s life in 2035 is almost a mirror of his life in the 1980s, right down to his academic rivalries and love interest. By the end of the book I was trying to find plot reflections everywhere.
- the setting, I went to uni in Geneva and Catherine Fearns has perfectly captured the beauty and the appeal of the city and its surrounds.
- I liked the detailed scientific theories that were put forward by the characters to explain the supernatural. I also loved the use of Haydn’s essay to explain potential plot holes because I too was wondering why extensive correspondence with Carl Jung wouldn’t have been discovered before.
- the ending, I don’t include spoilers in my reviews so all I can say is that it was both chilling, sad and beautiful.

The Fault Mirror is one of those books that I will still be thinking about years after finishing.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quill and Crow Publishing House for the opportunity to read this ARC.

[Tamimii · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fault Mirror is an intriguing mystery centred on a castle built in the early 1900s which has seemed to appear and disappear throughout history. At the heart of the story is Cyrus, an 80-year-old philosophy professor who has a personal tie to the castle and has spent the past 50 years mulling over its inexplicability. When he receives a series of letters written by American heiress Lydia Temple, the castle’s original owner, he initially doubts Lydia’s existence — yet as the novel unfolds, we see how Lydia seems to have been deliberately erased from historical records. As Fearns so poetically puts it, her glaring “absence proves her existence”. This paradox drives the mystery: who was Lydia, why was she erased, and where exactly is this elusive castle of mirrors?

Fearns laces the story with thought-provoking reflections. She invites readers to consider the transience of life, to savour each moment, to cherish those around them, and to take risks in pursuing their dreams. The idea of a “race against time to live our lives” resonates with readers as something both universal and deeply human.

This novel combines beautiful scenic descriptions with an enthralling mystery, but perhaps its greatest achievement lies in its emotional impact. Beyond its puzzles, The Fault Mirror leaves the reader with a renewed appreciation for what they have and an urge to live life more fully.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. #TheFaultMirror #NetGalley

[Ana on the Shelves · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a house seen by three perspectives.
Lydia Temple, an American heiress that builds a fairy tail castle for her lover Séraphine de Valleiry that she met in 1900 in Paris.
Daphne, a woman who in 1980 seeks the house.
Cyrus Field, a philosophy teacher that in 2035 has made the study of the despairing house his main point of study.
This is the story of a house… or is it?

“Perhaps man is destined never to be satisfied. There must always be a yearning for more, more.”

“The Fault Mirror” marries philosophy, science fiction and fantasy, creating a perfect blend of wonder, mystery and feeling.
You do not need to be an expert of thought problems and scientific theories to easily follow and get completely sucked in the story that Catherine Fearns masterfully woven with her beautiful prose. What starts reading like a love story soon turns into a mystery to be pondered on, turning back into a love story, then an exploration of ideas and all of it always with the shadow of disaster growing over it. Dread permeates the page and yet I dare you to stop reading.

This is a book that was clearly a product of our age, yet it reads like a piece of literature that could fittingly have been written by someone, somewhere else in time.
Would you dare to look for the house yourself?

(I have recieved this book throught Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.)

[Nerea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quill & Crow Publishing House kindly gave me a free digital copy through Netgalley to share my opinion.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.
I don't want to delve too much into the plot, as I think it's best to just get into it with as little knowledge as possible, but I just want to say that it is probably going to be one of my favorite books of all time. There's a lot I loved about this book: the setting, characters, pace, writing... I don't know much about physics or philosophy, but everything felt either extremely well-documented or too well-written, as it makes you believe it's all facts.
Here are a few keywords for what you can find in this book:
- Sapphic Representation
- Historical fiction (Belle Époque)
- Different timelines and POVs (intertwined)
- Magic? Science? Philosophy? Who knows...?
- Blind and elderly main character.
I read this as an ARC, but I will buy myself a copy as soon as it comes out. I'm not one for annotating books, but this one deserves a reread and annotation since there's so much I'd like to revisit.
Also, I'd like to recommend this book to people who have read and liked The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods and The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. If you read The Fault Mirror and enjoyed it, maybe you'd like to check out those, too.
I truly hope this book gets the recognition it deserves.

[Seher · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does it mean to be trapped in a fairytale home when you’re surrounded by the greatest minds of your time; well, you still want to strangle people.

There was a lot that was done really well. The love story between Cyrus and Kathryn, and the pettiness between all the academics in the university. The weirdness within the house Lydia builds for Seraphine and how absolutely off their rocker most men are. The way Cyrus has to turn Daphne into a philosophical problem to survive with the loss.

I adore the amount of research Fearns did for this; to include all that historical detail, the philosophy and the physics casually in a book means the author did really do the time to research all this. It’s great fun to look up so many of those references!

What Catherine Fearns Could Have Done Without:

All that.

And I mean all that at the end.

The end gets strange fast. Yes we have the earthquake and we understand that the house is suspended in time, but then we’re all suddenly getting reincarnations, Seraphine is suspended in the astral plane outside of time, but Daphne does manage too hike there. Then on top of that the mystery with Hadyn seemed built up and then was weird and nothing at the same time.

And then we have when the weird end of times is upon everyone and this one story becomes important enough for Hadyn to teach it in the endless winter.

[Katharina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Quill & Crow Publishing House and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This book reads like a big meandering philosophical tale, which, in my opinion, meanders a bit too much. It certainly would have profited from being more concise in some places. At times I was bored, wanting to DNF this, other times I was so taken with the story (especially in the second half of the book) that I just wanted to continue reading it well into the night, because I wanted to find out how it would end. Kathryn was my favourite character and it's a shame that she only got introduced in the last quarter of the book. The story certainly would have profited from her being there since the beginning. I couldn't connect well to Hadyn and although I thought Cyrus was okay, I didn't particularly root for him all that much. The conclusion was not entirely unsatisfactory, but I had expected more, especially since the build-up in the last quarter of the book was very intriguing. I feel like the plot was very little and the book instead got filled with, what I already mentioned in the beginning, philosophical meandering. All in all, I enjoyed myself at times and was bored at other times; 3/5 stars.

[Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 STARS(rounded up)

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me this ARC! My review and thoughts are my own.

I always love a well-executed epistolary novel, and I feel like they are few and far between these days so this was very exciting to find! Epistolary and historical fiction just pair so incredibly well. However, a story told in large part by letters is not always everyone’s cup of tea, so keep that in mind when considering reading.

The sci-fi/fantasy elements thread throughout the story in a subtle way that comes together well as the story builds, the timelines and character throughlines threading together in a complex, unique, and honestly incredible story. The Fault Mirror is full of questions about humanity and love, the way that we live and the way we exist in time. As the story unfolds you find more information, more clues, and more mystery.

Deeply atmospheric and addictive, I highly recommend The Fault Mirror.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House, for the absolute privilege to review this ARC.

Can I just say I'm writing my review through tears, and it makes it very hard to actually think straight? This review is going to be short because I don't think words accurately describe my genuine shock and happiness to be SHOCKED that I loved this so much. I have read very few novels in the horror-ish genre, so I was skeptical. I think this was a perfect jumping-off point because it was horror-lite. It was so much more than the genre, so much more than the gorgeous book cover, and the atmospheric, gorgeously gothic descriptions and environments. It was emotionally profound, moving, philosophical (without being pretentious), welcoming, unique, and a book that really just stays with you for a long while after.

Read it.

[Tiffani Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to start with saying this author has a pretty impressive vernacular. This story is written beautifully and flowered with many pretty words and analogies/metaphors/etc.

However— some of this went way over my head. I feel like I may have had to take college classes in both philosophy and physics to understand what was being discussed at numerous points within the book.

Nonetheless, I was still invested in the story and soared through it so I could find out what happened to the disappearing house. I don’t know if I’m fully content with the way the book ended though, because the answer wasn’t very clear to me.

I will say, I would have loved to be friends with Lydia in this book, I loved every chapter of her letters to Carl Jung.

Overall, not a bad story, I think I just perhaps needed a higher reading level to fully understand it 😂

[Paloma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fault Mirror is a complex mystery that questions our existence, the human need for knowledge and love.

I really enjoyed Lydia and Seraphine's story. Lydia's letters were so touching and how she described their magical home were sweet and inspiring. The whole story brings us philosophy, physics, and love. The characters are complex and driven by their emotions. I loved all the talks that the characters had and how their minds worked to figure out the secrets behind Lydia and why there were no records of her. I also enjoyed Cyrus' character and how he never gave up on trying to find out what happened to his beloved Daphne. The discussions between Cyrus and Haydn were so deep and thought provoking. A very unique and thoughtful read!

Thank you Netgalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for this eARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

[Laura Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out November 8th, 2025
So haunting. Set across three haunting timelines—Belle Époque Paris, a postmodern Oxford, and the shadowed interwar years—the novel conjures the elusive Château des Miroirs, a house that may never have existed, yet shapes the lives of those who seek it. Lydia Temple’s love for Séraphine de Valleiry births a castle of dreams, only for it to be swallowed by war and whispers. Decades later, Cyrus Field, nearly blind and broken, is handed letters that may hold the key to his life’s philosophical obsession. But as the past bleeds into the present, the question lingers: is truth ever truly visible, or merely reflected in the fault lines of our desires?

Thank you to NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for this ARC!

[Maureen Meldrum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be an extremely original book, it seems to be a blend of science fiction, philosophy, academic debate and a rather poignant romance. There seems to be a deep intelligence behind this book, It must have been very thoroughly researched. The characters really come to life, with their strengths and their human frailties. On reading the book it is impossible to guess how it could end. I recommend this book to those with an enquiring and open mind to the world of quantum physics. You will never find another book like this.

[Lua · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5 rounded up to 5)

I finished reading The Fault Mirror a few days ago, but I still can't stop thinking about its characters and story. I loved the characters, all of them so beautifully written and multi-faceted. The writing is fluid, and the mystery surrounding the house pulls you in even more. It's all so beautiful and emotionally moving.

[John Plus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book on pre-order and just read it. What a great read! The story is complex and engaging, moving between different geographical locations and historical periods seamlessly. The characters - especially Lydia — are brilliantly brought to life. I never thought that quantum mechanics, mysticism and world war could be combined in such a beautiful way.

[Scarlet's Book Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had some interesting parts but overall felt too complex and didn’t keep me fully interested. I even thought about DNF'ing it, but couldn’t.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for the ARC.