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The Emilys: A Novel
A mother becomes obsessed with finding the cure to a mysterious ailment that is spreading throughout her New England town in this kaleidoscopic novel about love's capacities in a changing world.
“And if we weren’t afraid of the darkness? What world would we make then?”
Eve is at a breaking point. Alone with her two children in Massachusetts while her husband pursues his music career in New York City, she’s frustrated, bored, and above all, lonely when she runs into Demeter, a childhood friend with whom she shared one transformative summer. Demeter is as beautiful and charismatic as Eve remembers, but she’s also distraught. Demeter’s daughter, like a growing number of others, young and old, cannot go outside during the day. No one knows why, and doctors are skeptical that these people—soon dubbed Emilys, after a famously reclusive local poet—are telling the truth. But Eve believes her friend, whose company revives her and gives her purpose. She will help Demeter—if she can just figure out how.
Eve’s search for answers brings her into the fold of an unlikely band of detectives—the local librarian and the town’s most prolific writer of letters to the editor, who both loved the same woman and now hate each other; an actor hoping to make amends for past mistakes; a hermit botanist whose seed collection might hold a clue if she’d only open her door. They meet in playdates and potlucks, the Elks Lodge and the food co-op, the botanical garden and the riverbank, venturing deep into the town’s past and finding their way towards a future wilder and more wondrous than they had ever expected. But for Eve, this future will require a She is keeping secrets from her husband, fighting with Demeter, distracted from her children. What is she willing to risk to find a cure?
The Emilys is a capacious, profound book about how love of all kinds—love between friends, between mothers and kids, between strangers and neighbors, love for the earth—opens up new possibilities. It How will we learn to live in an altered world? How will we keep each other safe? And when the darkness comes, how will we find joy?
“And if we weren’t afraid of the darkness? What world would we make then?”
Eve is at a breaking point. Alone with her two children in Massachusetts while her husband pursues his music career in New York City, she’s frustrated, bored, and above all, lonely when she runs into Demeter, a childhood friend with whom she shared one transformative summer. Demeter is as beautiful and charismatic as Eve remembers, but she’s also distraught. Demeter’s daughter, like a growing number of others, young and old, cannot go outside during the day. No one knows why, and doctors are skeptical that these people—soon dubbed Emilys, after a famously reclusive local poet—are telling the truth. But Eve believes her friend, whose company revives her and gives her purpose. She will help Demeter—if she can just figure out how.
Eve’s search for answers brings her into the fold of an unlikely band of detectives—the local librarian and the town’s most prolific writer of letters to the editor, who both loved the same woman and now hate each other; an actor hoping to make amends for past mistakes; a hermit botanist whose seed collection might hold a clue if she’d only open her door. They meet in playdates and potlucks, the Elks Lodge and the food co-op, the botanical garden and the riverbank, venturing deep into the town’s past and finding their way towards a future wilder and more wondrous than they had ever expected. But for Eve, this future will require a She is keeping secrets from her husband, fighting with Demeter, distracted from her children. What is she willing to risk to find a cure?
The Emilys is a capacious, profound book about how love of all kinds—love between friends, between mothers and kids, between strangers and neighbors, love for the earth—opens up new possibilities. It How will we learn to live in an altered world? How will we keep each other safe? And when the darkness comes, how will we find joy?
392 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 16, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
June 25, 2026
3⭐️ Eve is a lonely woman in a new city. Her husband spends much of his time in NY working while she’s left with the kids. When old friend Demeter appears in town with her daughter, Eve becomes entangled with her problems. Eve’s own life is far from perfect with a difficult Mom, absent husband and no real friends.
Demeter’s daughter Persephone suffers from a severe photosensitivity sickness that doctors have failed to diagnose. She returns to her hometown in hopes of a cure. More people begin to appear with the same strange illness.
The multiple characters and back and forth chapters and timelines left me feeling somewhat confused at times. I never felt connected to any of them! I did enjoy Eve’s and Demeter’s friendship and the sense of community in the story. The last 1/4 fell off a bit for me. I wish more of the book would have just focused on Eve and Demeter.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC in exchange for my honest review
Demeter’s daughter Persephone suffers from a severe photosensitivity sickness that doctors have failed to diagnose. She returns to her hometown in hopes of a cure. More people begin to appear with the same strange illness.
The multiple characters and back and forth chapters and timelines left me feeling somewhat confused at times. I never felt connected to any of them! I did enjoy Eve’s and Demeter’s friendship and the sense of community in the story. The last 1/4 fell off a bit for me. I wish more of the book would have just focused on Eve and Demeter.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC in exchange for my honest review
June 9, 2026
THE EMILYS
By Heather Abel
Strong Themes, Slow Build
The Emilys by Heather Abel follows Eve, a lonely mother of two whose husband spends most of his time pursuing a music career in New York. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Demeter, she becomes involved in a mysterious illness affecting people who can no longer go outside during daylight.
The novel is written in a literary style with a quiet pace. It blends family drama, friendship, community relationships, and a touch of mystery.
Abel’s writing is thoughtful and ambitious, but the large cast of characters and shifting perspectives sometimes made the narrative feel disjointed. While the novel’s themes are compelling, it took quite a while for the various storylines to come together, and the flow wasn’t always smooth.
The tone is reflective, hopeful, and often emotional, exploring themes of connection, belonging, and caring for others.
I did enjoy Eve’s development over the course of the novel, from feeling isolated and unsure of her place in life to gaining confidence and purpose. She learns to balance her responsibilities while discovering what matters most and what sacrifices she is willing to make for those she loves.
This was my first book by Heather Abel. While I didn't love it, I appreciated its ambition and would consider reading more of her work in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC.
By Heather Abel
Strong Themes, Slow Build
The Emilys by Heather Abel follows Eve, a lonely mother of two whose husband spends most of his time pursuing a music career in New York. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Demeter, she becomes involved in a mysterious illness affecting people who can no longer go outside during daylight.
The novel is written in a literary style with a quiet pace. It blends family drama, friendship, community relationships, and a touch of mystery.
Abel’s writing is thoughtful and ambitious, but the large cast of characters and shifting perspectives sometimes made the narrative feel disjointed. While the novel’s themes are compelling, it took quite a while for the various storylines to come together, and the flow wasn’t always smooth.
The tone is reflective, hopeful, and often emotional, exploring themes of connection, belonging, and caring for others.
I did enjoy Eve’s development over the course of the novel, from feeling isolated and unsure of her place in life to gaining confidence and purpose. She learns to balance her responsibilities while discovering what matters most and what sacrifices she is willing to make for those she loves.
This was my first book by Heather Abel. While I didn't love it, I appreciated its ambition and would consider reading more of her work in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC.
July 29, 2026
Interesting premise about a disease called Sun Madness that afflicts a few characters and the truly mad dash to figure out cause and resolution. There were a few too many characters, I had to take detailed notes to understand the format and how everyone related to each other. I found myself really enjoying the story and the writing kept me interested. I would recommend to those readers who are into more quirky books about unexplained illnesses with unique characters.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
June 17, 2026
4 stars. The Emilys is a hard book to easily describe, but that is also what made it so interesting. The story follows Eve as she is pulled back into the life of her childhood friend Demeter, whose daughter has a mysterious illness that keeps her out of the sunlight. As more people begin showing similar symptoms, the story becomes less about finding one simple answer and more about how fear, loyalty, motherhood, and old friendships can blur everything.
What I really liked was the emotional messiness of it all. Eve wants to help, but she is also searching for something inside her own life that she cannot quite name. The story has a slower, unusual rhythm, but I appreciated how it leaned into uncertainty instead of trying to make everything easy. It’s not the kind of book that hands you all the answers, and I actually liked that. Some parts made me pause and sit with what was happening instead of rushing through it. It was definitely one of those books that kept my brain circling back after I finished. Pub. 6/16/26
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
What I really liked was the emotional messiness of it all. Eve wants to help, but she is also searching for something inside her own life that she cannot quite name. The story has a slower, unusual rhythm, but I appreciated how it leaned into uncertainty instead of trying to make everything easy. It’s not the kind of book that hands you all the answers, and I actually liked that. Some parts made me pause and sit with what was happening instead of rushing through it. It was definitely one of those books that kept my brain circling back after I finished. Pub. 6/16/26
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book follows a group of friends in Northampton Massachusetts during and after the pandemic, during which a group of people develop sensitivity to sunlight. I found most of the characters interesting. Eve is the main character who is forced to leave her life in NYC and move back to Mass to take care of her children. She has a best friend, Demeter, a free spirit whose daughter develops the sensitivity to sunlight. But interesting characters are the whole show here. There is no real plot other than finding some seeds, and there is no narrative tension because the one twist is given away at the beginning. The book is marketed as a story of a community coming together, but it does not really read that way. Eve's relationships with other adults lack boundaries and are kind of unhealthy, due to trauma in her childhood. She is trying but is hamstrung with anxiety. All the men in the book are pointless at best and harmful at worst. The stories of the other female characters fade off the page towards the end. So community does not appear to be the point of the story. I think about 100 pages could have been edited out.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A mysterious illness that makes it impossible for the sufferers, called Emilys after the reclusive poet, to go outside in the daytime is at the center of this novel set in Western Massachusetts. Eve lives in Northampton in her childhood home with her two children while her husband pursues a career in music in New York. She is exhausted and at a breaking point when she meets an old friend from her childhood, Demeter, who has come back to town to seek a cure for her daughter who is suffering from the sun sickness. The search for a cure leads them to form unlikely alliances with other affected people and their families. The novel explores the nature of friendship, motherhood, and what one will risk to find a cure for their loved ones. Although this sounds grim, the characters and the community they form, the relationships, and the location, keep it from heaviness. Eve is a woman I will remember for a long time.
July 5, 2026
The Emily's has a very interesting premise and is a unique story.
Set in Massachusetts post pandemic, a group of people suffer from a mysterious illness that causes them to have a serious aversion to sunlight. They are called Emily's. There is another group of people trying to find a cure for this affliction.
If the story focused more on the main characters Eve and Demeter (with their many issues) it would have been easier to follow. However, there are many characters (with many issues) which was quite confusing.
Many topics are touched upon including friendship, motherhood, climate change, etc.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
Set in Massachusetts post pandemic, a group of people suffer from a mysterious illness that causes them to have a serious aversion to sunlight. They are called Emily's. There is another group of people trying to find a cure for this affliction.
If the story focused more on the main characters Eve and Demeter (with their many issues) it would have been easier to follow. However, there are many characters (with many issues) which was quite confusing.
Many topics are touched upon including friendship, motherhood, climate change, etc.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
August 3, 2026
i was really excited to read this and loved the premise/writing but i felt like there were too many unnecessary characters to keep up with
February 16, 2026
Perhaps the only thing I dislike about reading ARCs is that I can not quote in my GR reviews—particularly a shame in this case, because there were just so many moments in this book I loved dearly. I will try to capture the essence of this marvelous work without giving away any of the intrigue. The writing was stellar, the plot twists were not the ones I foresaw, and just, overall, I felt a pull to return to this book continuously through the ten days of reading. Abel's writing reminded me of Patchett's Tom Lake and something else I can not quite place, a warm blanket of familiarity, while being, in its content, entirely novel. I enjoyed the way the narrative was structured, with the principal line around Eve and the satellite narratives from other characters.
I would not call myself an environmentalist, although I obviously care about climate change and how it affects species of both plants and insects. The perspective of the ticks was quite unexpected, but I honestly thought it was one of the highlights of the novel. I have been, however, facing a growing urge to abandon all screens, forever, and move to a small village on the coast of the Mediterranean, and do I am not exactly sure what. Just... not this. Perhaps we do drive and type on our screens and keep our lights on a little too much. Would it be so bad to enjoy the nights and the white linens? The simplicity we have lost?
In my life, all roads seem to lead to Emily Dickinson. The timing of this read is kind of odd for me. I have been consumed by an odd sense of nostalgia for this past summer, which I spent in New England, feeling like a bug under a hazy blue glass dome. The title of the work is quite brilliant, I have to say, as I am a lay scholar of all things Emily Dickinson. The insect motifs, the Thoreau connections, the light sensitivity, the love for nature, the mortality, it’s all so closely tied to Dickinson.
I appreciate motherhood as one of the central themes of this novel. An emerging trend, it seems, one I welcome even though I do not plan on having children myself. I see a lot of myself in Eve and her relationship with her mother, more rarely in Persephone and her undying hope, and most often in Kiran and older Sophia in their pursuit to step back into the night. Fatherhood, too, I suppose. Oh, Stephen, the collectivist, but more importantly, the father. What parts of ourselves wouldn't we give for the ones we love?
Also, I fear I am a Demeter hater. Eve can be annoying at times due to her dishonesty, privilege, and jealousy, but Demeter... her character irritated me beyond measure, and yet still propelled my desire to keep reading. I suppose I wanted to see what kind of stupid choices this brilliant woman would make. Actually, now that I think about it, like every character in this book is annoying. Not a bad thing at all. Very human of them. (I am looking at you, Mr. Southwest).
But yeah, basically, highly recommend. I don't even know how to conclude here—go into this with an open mind? Enjoy the Greentime?
Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Random House, for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I would not call myself an environmentalist, although I obviously care about climate change and how it affects species of both plants and insects. The perspective of the ticks was quite unexpected, but I honestly thought it was one of the highlights of the novel. I have been, however, facing a growing urge to abandon all screens, forever, and move to a small village on the coast of the Mediterranean, and do I am not exactly sure what. Just... not this. Perhaps we do drive and type on our screens and keep our lights on a little too much. Would it be so bad to enjoy the nights and the white linens? The simplicity we have lost?
In my life, all roads seem to lead to Emily Dickinson. The timing of this read is kind of odd for me. I have been consumed by an odd sense of nostalgia for this past summer, which I spent in New England, feeling like a bug under a hazy blue glass dome. The title of the work is quite brilliant, I have to say, as I am a lay scholar of all things Emily Dickinson. The insect motifs, the Thoreau connections, the light sensitivity, the love for nature, the mortality, it’s all so closely tied to Dickinson.
I appreciate motherhood as one of the central themes of this novel. An emerging trend, it seems, one I welcome even though I do not plan on having children myself. I see a lot of myself in Eve and her relationship with her mother, more rarely in Persephone and her undying hope, and most often in Kiran and older Sophia in their pursuit to step back into the night. Fatherhood, too, I suppose. Oh, Stephen, the collectivist, but more importantly, the father. What parts of ourselves wouldn't we give for the ones we love?
Also, I fear I am a Demeter hater. Eve can be annoying at times due to her dishonesty, privilege, and jealousy, but Demeter... her character irritated me beyond measure, and yet still propelled my desire to keep reading. I suppose I wanted to see what kind of stupid choices this brilliant woman would make. Actually, now that I think about it, like every character in this book is annoying. Not a bad thing at all. Very human of them. (I am looking at you, Mr. Southwest).
But yeah, basically, highly recommend. I don't even know how to conclude here—go into this with an open mind? Enjoy the Greentime?
Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Random House, for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 28, 2026
THE EMILYS
Heather Abel
Thank you @randomhousebooks for the advance copy of this novel—out in June!
How do you be a friend to someone, at all? What’s the point? Or, is that the whole point of it all?
The Emilys: An exploration of the state of faith and belief, what it means to suspend it, what it means to choose belief in spite of evidence, how people make decisions against their better judgment, how people reject what they don’t want to hear when it leaves no hope.
It both subtly and loudly explores a topic I think of often, being the difference between illness, sickness, and disease. That is: disease being the pathophysiological process ongoing in a body that can or cannot be treated successfully; sickness being the personal state of having a disease—whether it has a fitting and encompassing working diagnosis or not; and illness being the way in which a society perceives a disease and a sickness, how it’s either romanticized, shunned, supported or scoffed on. The Emilys is a wonderful working literary example of how these three processes intertwine. For that, I loved this book.
There were passages here about friendship and motherhood, nature and longing that I found especially impactful. It’s got a terrifically complex spark of life. A rich book to chew and savor and appreciate for the parts that resonate.
In the end, the last quarter of the book suffered from just a bit of plotty denouement doom that did not work for me, but nonetheless did not affect much how I felt about the rest of the novel.
If you’re into the conflicts between modern medicine and pseudoscience, or have a friend you love no matter your differences, you should check this book out.
Heather Abel
Thank you @randomhousebooks for the advance copy of this novel—out in June!
How do you be a friend to someone, at all? What’s the point? Or, is that the whole point of it all?
The Emilys: An exploration of the state of faith and belief, what it means to suspend it, what it means to choose belief in spite of evidence, how people make decisions against their better judgment, how people reject what they don’t want to hear when it leaves no hope.
It both subtly and loudly explores a topic I think of often, being the difference between illness, sickness, and disease. That is: disease being the pathophysiological process ongoing in a body that can or cannot be treated successfully; sickness being the personal state of having a disease—whether it has a fitting and encompassing working diagnosis or not; and illness being the way in which a society perceives a disease and a sickness, how it’s either romanticized, shunned, supported or scoffed on. The Emilys is a wonderful working literary example of how these three processes intertwine. For that, I loved this book.
There were passages here about friendship and motherhood, nature and longing that I found especially impactful. It’s got a terrifically complex spark of life. A rich book to chew and savor and appreciate for the parts that resonate.
In the end, the last quarter of the book suffered from just a bit of plotty denouement doom that did not work for me, but nonetheless did not affect much how I felt about the rest of the novel.
If you’re into the conflicts between modern medicine and pseudoscience, or have a friend you love no matter your differences, you should check this book out.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an early copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. I throughly enjoyed this book and read it in one day. I loved the storyline and the characters. I thought it was well written.. I would definitely recommend this book.
April 30, 2026
2.5 ⭐️
Just not for me… the cover is absolutely stunning though!
Just not for me… the cover is absolutely stunning though!
July 6, 2026
Do not read this book. The premise sounds good but it’s actually not at all. Its a shame the plot sucked so much because the writing was actually pretty lovely.
February 22, 2026
Received as an ARC from NetGalley. Heather Abel goes for verisimilitude and gets there. The prose is lush and beautiful, full of neat turns of phrase. However, I found the vision of this book confusing, and the plot clumsy. It suffers from literary fiction plot, where author moseys around with language and character and towards the end remembers that there needs to be some dramatic stakes. For the first two thirds the story felt like a lot of language, and then toward the end one chapter of a reveal-all—after which the story picked up and I could read straight through, but I had to wander about to get there a bit. References and themes (Eve, Demeter/Persephone, sunlight, ecology) felt hackneyed.
May 27, 2026
Eve is reunited with her childhood friend Demeter, a beautiful magnetic woman of whom she was deeply jealous but also adored. It seems too good to be true: her old friend back and their children can play together. When she learns Demeter's daughter is suffering from a strange illness called Emily that no doctors can figure out, Eve becomes her main support system. As more people become afflicted but they're no closer to a cure, Eve struggles with feelings of failure and what place she holds in the lives of her loved ones.
I'll be honest: I really struggled with this one but for the most part I think it was a me thing. I thought the concept was so interesting. I was expecting it to have a more mystical take but I enjoyed the way the altered world affected our characters and the way each one chose to deal with it. The pacing was a little disjointed to me in the way the chapters were sectioned and the POV switched. I really only felt invested in Eve's POV (although about 2/3rds through I started to like Ruth too) so once I got momentum going and was more interested the POV switched and I wasn't as engaged. I thought the prose itself was well written and I enjoyed the amount of introspection from our characters. I was let down by the ending. I felt there wasn't a lot of resolution for the information and questions provided and I wanted a little more direct confrontation.
I think this would work for readers who enjoy exploring the characters internal motivations and their place (and humanity's as a whole) in the wide world while also leaving some space in the world building for contemplation after the last page.
Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Publishing, and the author for the opportunity to read and review the book. All opinions are my own.
I'll be honest: I really struggled with this one but for the most part I think it was a me thing. I thought the concept was so interesting. I was expecting it to have a more mystical take but I enjoyed the way the altered world affected our characters and the way each one chose to deal with it. The pacing was a little disjointed to me in the way the chapters were sectioned and the POV switched. I really only felt invested in Eve's POV (although about 2/3rds through I started to like Ruth too) so once I got momentum going and was more interested the POV switched and I wasn't as engaged. I thought the prose itself was well written and I enjoyed the amount of introspection from our characters. I was let down by the ending. I felt there wasn't a lot of resolution for the information and questions provided and I wanted a little more direct confrontation.
I think this would work for readers who enjoy exploring the characters internal motivations and their place (and humanity's as a whole) in the wide world while also leaving some space in the world building for contemplation after the last page.
Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Publishing, and the author for the opportunity to read and review the book. All opinions are my own.
July 19, 2026
This book takes a little bit to get into. I sometimes felt that the different POVs made the story a bit confusing at the beginning, but it starts making a lot more sense as the story goes on.
Eve is a very intense character, to the point where sometimes I became annoyed with her, but at the same time, this is the kind of friend you want to have in your corner.
Even though I felt confused at times with the characters, loved the sense of community in this story.
Enjoyed my time with this one.
Thank you to Random House and the author for providing a free copy of this book through NetGalley.
Eve is a very intense character, to the point where sometimes I became annoyed with her, but at the same time, this is the kind of friend you want to have in your corner.
Even though I felt confused at times with the characters, loved the sense of community in this story.
Enjoyed my time with this one.
Thank you to Random House and the author for providing a free copy of this book through NetGalley.
July 13, 2026
Emily begins courting a jovial Northern construction foreman named Homer Barron. The town disapproves of the relationship, believing he is not the marrying type. After Emily purchases arsenic and a silver toilet set with Homer's initials, the town assumes they are to be married. Homer then suddenly vanishes.
July 4, 2026
wow! it was a great read! i loved the chapter from the perspective of the ticks!
July 2, 2026
Wow!!!! So interesting
June 17, 2026
This super smart book is about so much, and all of it matters and entertains. The Emilys are sufferers of a mysterious illness caused by light sensitivity, named for the famously reclusive poet Emily Dickinson. Main character Eve is 44-yrs old and lives inside her head a bit, she is mother to little Sonya and Lev, she calls their father Henry James for obscure literary reasons; her own mother Joan ? is a famous author/malignant narcissist parent who she still caters to; and when Eve reconnects with her long lost best friend Demeter D'Errico, she uncovers childhood memories she'd repressed ages ago. The story takes place mainly in Northampton, MA where Eve grew up and has recently relocated to. Henry James still works in NYC and is only home on weekends, rendering Eve isolated.
At the same time, there is an Asian lesbian librarian named Ruth contending with personal guilt and anxiety having to do with the loss of her wife Ramona due to cancer and of their son Orion due to distance and apathy. At work she also deals with a rogue support group for victims of medical mysteries, led by Ramona's ex-husband Stephen O'Malley. One day Ruth discovers a very old tract about Sun Madness and the small white flowering plant that cured it, known as Sightflower.
There are more plots, involving more fabulous characters, and extremely witty dialog and compelling connections to the Emilys, and to Eve's overwhelm. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, I loved it. I will think of it for a long time to come.
At the same time, there is an Asian lesbian librarian named Ruth contending with personal guilt and anxiety having to do with the loss of her wife Ramona due to cancer and of their son Orion due to distance and apathy. At work she also deals with a rogue support group for victims of medical mysteries, led by Ramona's ex-husband Stephen O'Malley. One day Ruth discovers a very old tract about Sun Madness and the small white flowering plant that cured it, known as Sightflower.
There are more plots, involving more fabulous characters, and extremely witty dialog and compelling connections to the Emilys, and to Eve's overwhelm. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, I loved it. I will think of it for a long time to come.
March 20, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this ARC!
The Emilys is a novel that centers on a mysterious illness tied to photosensitivity and the communities that form in response to it. As the condition spreads, questions (as well as conspiracies and outright opposition) arise about its origins. Some suspect it may be a post-pandemic psychological response to isolation, while others believe it could be connected to tick-borne illness. Could it be environmental, infectious, or psychosomatic? Readers who enjoy mysteries and solving puzzles may see themselves reflected in some of the characters.
One of the most compelling aspects of the book is how it explores motherhood and the instinct to protect the people closest to us. In some ways, the story reflects the strong individualism embedded in American culture. Mothers focus on protecting their own children; sometimes because that is all the system seems to allow them to do.
At the same time, the novel pushes beyond that isolation. We see communities of loved ones coming together to search for answers, and communities of the sick creating alternative ways of living and finding happiness despite their circumstances.
It also pushes back against the current state of healthcare. With references to Big Pharma and the opioid epidemic, it touches on a frustratingly familiar experience: seeing doctor after doctor- ESPECIALLY as a young woman- and not being taken seriously. Too often patients and their loved ones are labeled “hysterical” by a medical professional after only a few minutes, simply for trying to find answers.
I appreciated the references to Emily Dickinson and western Massachusetts, which add an intriguing literary and regional layer to the story. The prose itself is beautiful, often lingering on natural imagery and plant names in a way that feels somewhat meditative.
At times, specifically earlier on in the novel, the shifting perspectives made the narrative feel slightly confusing and muddled. However, as the story unfolds, the pieces come together into something deeply hopeful.
Ultimately, this is a book about motherhood, grief, loneliness, friendship, marriage, and the fragile bonds that hold people together. In a world where danger can be found lurking behind any corner, this novel feels strikingly apropos and leaves the reader with some much-needed hope.
3.5 stars :)
The Emilys is a novel that centers on a mysterious illness tied to photosensitivity and the communities that form in response to it. As the condition spreads, questions (as well as conspiracies and outright opposition) arise about its origins. Some suspect it may be a post-pandemic psychological response to isolation, while others believe it could be connected to tick-borne illness. Could it be environmental, infectious, or psychosomatic? Readers who enjoy mysteries and solving puzzles may see themselves reflected in some of the characters.
One of the most compelling aspects of the book is how it explores motherhood and the instinct to protect the people closest to us. In some ways, the story reflects the strong individualism embedded in American culture. Mothers focus on protecting their own children; sometimes because that is all the system seems to allow them to do.
At the same time, the novel pushes beyond that isolation. We see communities of loved ones coming together to search for answers, and communities of the sick creating alternative ways of living and finding happiness despite their circumstances.
It also pushes back against the current state of healthcare. With references to Big Pharma and the opioid epidemic, it touches on a frustratingly familiar experience: seeing doctor after doctor- ESPECIALLY as a young woman- and not being taken seriously. Too often patients and their loved ones are labeled “hysterical” by a medical professional after only a few minutes, simply for trying to find answers.
I appreciated the references to Emily Dickinson and western Massachusetts, which add an intriguing literary and regional layer to the story. The prose itself is beautiful, often lingering on natural imagery and plant names in a way that feels somewhat meditative.
At times, specifically earlier on in the novel, the shifting perspectives made the narrative feel slightly confusing and muddled. However, as the story unfolds, the pieces come together into something deeply hopeful.
Ultimately, this is a book about motherhood, grief, loneliness, friendship, marriage, and the fragile bonds that hold people together. In a world where danger can be found lurking behind any corner, this novel feels strikingly apropos and leaves the reader with some much-needed hope.
3.5 stars :)
June 12, 2026
This is a very deep and thoughtful story about love in all its forms—between family, friends, and the broader community. The plot is intricate and layered, weaving together relationships and events in a way that feels both authentic and compelling. I especially appreciated how the setting perfectly complements the story, grounding the emotional depth in a vivid and believable world.
The characters are well-drawn and interesting, with unique personalities that make the narrative engaging throughout. Heather Abel does a remarkable job of showing how their lives intersect and influence one another, adding to the richness of the story. It’s a beautiful and moving read that I highly recommend to anyone who loves stories about the bonds that hold us together.
The characters are well-drawn and interesting, with unique personalities that make the narrative engaging throughout. Heather Abel does a remarkable job of showing how their lives intersect and influence one another, adding to the richness of the story. It’s a beautiful and moving read that I highly recommend to anyone who loves stories about the bonds that hold us together.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
If I hadn’t been reading Heather Abel’s The Emilys for review, I probably would have DNF’d this book after about twenty pages. After having finished the book, I still wish I had DNF’d it after about twenty pages and gotten those hours of my life back.
I think the main point of the book is that we’re destroying our planet and then destroying ourselves and the generations that follow with the inevitability of it, and our very limited ability at an individual level to do anything about it. I say ‘I think’ because this book goes off on so many tangents and is told by multiple narrators that it is incredibly difficult to follow the train of thought of Abel.
The primary narrator is Eve, who has relocated to the country with her children from New York City while her husband commutes. She reconnects with an old friend who lives an alternative lifestyle and has a daughter who gets sick when exposed to light. The light illness they think is the result of a tick bite, but no one will take them seriously.
All the narrators are eventually connected because of this illness, whether they have a family member suffering from it or are trying to find a cure for it. Which also turns them all into crazy, paranoid, and obsessive people. It does however, take some time into the book for Eve, Jeremiah, Ruth, Stephen, and Persephone to be connected, which left me confused for a good deal of the book about what the actual story was.
I don’t know if there’s a moral to this story, but since Joan, Eve’s mother, is a fatalist who begins suffering from Emily herself, spreads doom and gloom while expecting accommodation, perhaps the moral is to leave as small a footprint as you can while not forgoing life and relationships.
Even if ticks could cause a sun sickness in a diagnosable way like they do Lyme disease, the characters in this book who have it all drove me crazy. I can’t imagine how bad it would be cooped up inside in the dark, but they’re all depressing and demanding, and characters like Eve enable them but coddling them too much. They live in the country where it’s pretty dark at night, and yet they mope inside and don’t see an alternative time of day as a way to start living in some capacity again, they just want to hang out together in a dark room with ‘their people’.
The book tends to stray off this topic a lot, ruminating on past relationships the narrators have had, and wringing their hands over the current ones. There’s a point where on a visit by Eve to a former acquaintance of Ruth’s that there’s a random Target run and a performance by children with a stage and props. At one point, after being warned off sharing a potential cure for Emily in case pharma bros co-opt it first, that Eve becomes convinced one of her new acquaintances is a spy. It hurt my head.
This probably qualifies as literary fiction, which is often driven by character development. In this case most of the characters seem to devolve rather than evolve. Literary fiction tends to not be my vibe unless it’s a really well written book that helps me understand why I went on the journey with the characters to begin with. This was not that book for me.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I think the main point of the book is that we’re destroying our planet and then destroying ourselves and the generations that follow with the inevitability of it, and our very limited ability at an individual level to do anything about it. I say ‘I think’ because this book goes off on so many tangents and is told by multiple narrators that it is incredibly difficult to follow the train of thought of Abel.
The primary narrator is Eve, who has relocated to the country with her children from New York City while her husband commutes. She reconnects with an old friend who lives an alternative lifestyle and has a daughter who gets sick when exposed to light. The light illness they think is the result of a tick bite, but no one will take them seriously.
All the narrators are eventually connected because of this illness, whether they have a family member suffering from it or are trying to find a cure for it. Which also turns them all into crazy, paranoid, and obsessive people. It does however, take some time into the book for Eve, Jeremiah, Ruth, Stephen, and Persephone to be connected, which left me confused for a good deal of the book about what the actual story was.
I don’t know if there’s a moral to this story, but since Joan, Eve’s mother, is a fatalist who begins suffering from Emily herself, spreads doom and gloom while expecting accommodation, perhaps the moral is to leave as small a footprint as you can while not forgoing life and relationships.
Even if ticks could cause a sun sickness in a diagnosable way like they do Lyme disease, the characters in this book who have it all drove me crazy. I can’t imagine how bad it would be cooped up inside in the dark, but they’re all depressing and demanding, and characters like Eve enable them but coddling them too much. They live in the country where it’s pretty dark at night, and yet they mope inside and don’t see an alternative time of day as a way to start living in some capacity again, they just want to hang out together in a dark room with ‘their people’.
The book tends to stray off this topic a lot, ruminating on past relationships the narrators have had, and wringing their hands over the current ones. There’s a point where on a visit by Eve to a former acquaintance of Ruth’s that there’s a random Target run and a performance by children with a stage and props. At one point, after being warned off sharing a potential cure for Emily in case pharma bros co-opt it first, that Eve becomes convinced one of her new acquaintances is a spy. It hurt my head.
This probably qualifies as literary fiction, which is often driven by character development. In this case most of the characters seem to devolve rather than evolve. Literary fiction tends to not be my vibe unless it’s a really well written book that helps me understand why I went on the journey with the characters to begin with. This was not that book for me.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This novel has a lot going on, especially the number of characters to keep up with. I also was quite distracted by the large number of $10 words and flowery sentences the author used in her writing. As a journalism major and former newspaper reporter and section editor, I do love words and sentences -- just maybe not in an novel where I have to keep a dictionary nearby. In the first sentence, we get the word "viridescence." Several sentences later, we see "ululating" and "mundanities." I was so distracted by the actual words on the page it was difficult to pay attention to the story. I started a list: "apotheosis," "tetrahedron," "runnel," "concatenation," "alluvial," "monomania of joggers," "helical ramp." I actually do know what most of those words mean, but it was a struggle to pay attention to Eve and Demeter (talk about a name!), the childhood friend she reconnects with, and actual narrative.
But the plot: Eve moves to a small Massachusetts town with her two children while her musician husband goes back and forth to work in New York City. Her daughter, Sonya is having trouble making friends and refuses to walk on grass. Eve feels lost herself and overwhelmed, and is happy to find Demeter, whose personality is big and charismatic. Single-mother Demeter is raising a 12-year-old daughter, Persephone (another great name). Persephone, like other characters we meet, develops a strange illness that causes a violent reaction/allergy to sunlight. The two women think it might be related to a tick bite, but numerous doctors and specialists insist there is no real cause -- that is must be psychosomatic.
Eve makes it her mission to find a cure -- which she insists is caused by tick bites -- and she eventually becomes obsessed with an elusive seed, called "Sightflower." I won't say anything more, but the book is as much about the relationships among the adults, the afflicted ones (who include both young and old), climate change, and most interesting to me, the debate about sickness and whether it is caused by something identifiable or something made up. The title of the book, The Emilys, is what the afflicted are called -- a nod to the reclusive poet, Emily Dickinson.
Once I got past the writing style (that is just my observation), I mostly enjoyed the story, although I think there could have been fewer characters and more editing.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House for the eARC and the opportunity to read this novel. All opinions are my own.
But the plot: Eve moves to a small Massachusetts town with her two children while her musician husband goes back and forth to work in New York City. Her daughter, Sonya is having trouble making friends and refuses to walk on grass. Eve feels lost herself and overwhelmed, and is happy to find Demeter, whose personality is big and charismatic. Single-mother Demeter is raising a 12-year-old daughter, Persephone (another great name). Persephone, like other characters we meet, develops a strange illness that causes a violent reaction/allergy to sunlight. The two women think it might be related to a tick bite, but numerous doctors and specialists insist there is no real cause -- that is must be psychosomatic.
Eve makes it her mission to find a cure -- which she insists is caused by tick bites -- and she eventually becomes obsessed with an elusive seed, called "Sightflower." I won't say anything more, but the book is as much about the relationships among the adults, the afflicted ones (who include both young and old), climate change, and most interesting to me, the debate about sickness and whether it is caused by something identifiable or something made up. The title of the book, The Emilys, is what the afflicted are called -- a nod to the reclusive poet, Emily Dickinson.
Once I got past the writing style (that is just my observation), I mostly enjoyed the story, although I think there could have been fewer characters and more editing.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House for the eARC and the opportunity to read this novel. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Some novels tell a story.
The Emilys quietly builds a world around your heart and then asks you what you’re willing to protect when that world begins to change.
From its first pages, this book feels like standing on the edge of something fragile and luminous. Eve is a woman stretched thin by ordinary life—children, distance, exhaustion, loneliness—until the reappearance of Demeter cracks something open inside her. Their reunion doesn’t just bring back memory; it brings urgency, devotion, and a question that won’t let go: What happens when the people we love no longer fit inside the world as it is?
The mysterious illness at the center of this novel is haunting not because it’s spectacular, but because it’s intimate. It isolates. It confines. It reshapes families and friendships from the inside out. Watching Eve step deeper into Demeter’s orbit—believing her when others won’t, standing beside her when systems fail—becomes both beautiful and heartbreaking. You can feel the pull of loyalty growing stronger even as it begins to strain everything else in Eve’s life.
What makes this story so powerful is how it understands love as something both tender and dangerous. Eve loves fiercely, and that love pushes her toward connection, toward discovery, toward community—but also toward secrecy, guilt, and impossible choices. Every step forward costs her something. Every hope carries risk.
The town itself becomes a living presence, filled with unlikely alliances and quiet acts of bravery. Strangers share meals, trade theories, argue, reconcile, and keep showing up for one another. There’s a sense that even in fear, people are reaching outward—toward nature, toward memory, toward one another—in order to survive.
This is a novel about mothers, yes—but also about friendship, grief, devotion, and the radical act of believing someone when the world refuses to. It is tender without being sentimental, hopeful without denying pain. By the final pages, I felt both broken open and gently held, like the book had been whispering something true about how we live now, and how we might learn to live better.
The Emilys is strange, soulful, and quietly unforgettable—a story that lingers like a half-remembered dream and refuses to let go.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House for sharing this profound and moving women’s fiction digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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The Emilys quietly builds a world around your heart and then asks you what you’re willing to protect when that world begins to change.
From its first pages, this book feels like standing on the edge of something fragile and luminous. Eve is a woman stretched thin by ordinary life—children, distance, exhaustion, loneliness—until the reappearance of Demeter cracks something open inside her. Their reunion doesn’t just bring back memory; it brings urgency, devotion, and a question that won’t let go: What happens when the people we love no longer fit inside the world as it is?
The mysterious illness at the center of this novel is haunting not because it’s spectacular, but because it’s intimate. It isolates. It confines. It reshapes families and friendships from the inside out. Watching Eve step deeper into Demeter’s orbit—believing her when others won’t, standing beside her when systems fail—becomes both beautiful and heartbreaking. You can feel the pull of loyalty growing stronger even as it begins to strain everything else in Eve’s life.
What makes this story so powerful is how it understands love as something both tender and dangerous. Eve loves fiercely, and that love pushes her toward connection, toward discovery, toward community—but also toward secrecy, guilt, and impossible choices. Every step forward costs her something. Every hope carries risk.
The town itself becomes a living presence, filled with unlikely alliances and quiet acts of bravery. Strangers share meals, trade theories, argue, reconcile, and keep showing up for one another. There’s a sense that even in fear, people are reaching outward—toward nature, toward memory, toward one another—in order to survive.
This is a novel about mothers, yes—but also about friendship, grief, devotion, and the radical act of believing someone when the world refuses to. It is tender without being sentimental, hopeful without denying pain. By the final pages, I felt both broken open and gently held, like the book had been whispering something true about how we live now, and how we might learn to live better.
The Emilys is strange, soulful, and quietly unforgettable—a story that lingers like a half-remembered dream and refuses to let go.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House for sharing this profound and moving women’s fiction digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
medium blog
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
📚 BOOK REVIEW
THE EMILYS
Heather Abel • Publishes 6/16/26
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to @netgalley, @randomhouse & @heatherkabel for the ARC in exchange for a review.
Eve is barely holding it together raising two kids alone while her husband chases his music career in New York. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Demeter, she learns Demeter’s daughter, like a growing number of others, can no longer go outside during the day without getting sick. These people are called the Emilys.
No one can explain it. Most don’t even believe it. But Eve does, and her search for answers pulls her into a strange, quietly radical community chasing a truth that feels just out of reach and maybe a future none of them are ready for.
⸻
The Emilys is an ambitious novel that sits at the intersection of climate fiction and cozy small‑town mystery. Abel builds a world uncomfortably close to ours, where a growing number of people, the “Emilys,” named after Emily Dickinson become physically unable to endure daylight.
It’s quirky, yes, but also deeply moving — part speculative fiction, part human drama — exploring how we adapt when the world fundamentally changes. The atmosphere shines: moody, lush, and tenderly focused on how we care for one another when everything shifts beneath our feet. The premise is brilliant, though at times the story tries to do too much, slowing the pace and scattering focus.
The characters are weird in the best way, but there are a lot of them from feuding librarians to a hermit botanist. These people add so much local flavor. However, all those subplots made me lose track of Eve and her own emotional journey.
It’s a beautiful, thought‑provoking read that just needed a bit more focus to hit that five‑star mark. Abel makes you think about community, climate anxiety, and how we connect when everything goes sideways.
✅ WHAT WORKED
• Atmospheric tone — dreamlike and immersive
• Complex female friendships — messy, real, layered
• Strong sense of place and community
• Thoughtful motherhood themes — isolation and identity
• Slow‑build mystery grounded in emotion
• Beautiful writing — reflective and lyrical
⚠️ WHAT DIDN’T WORK
• Pacing drags — not ideal for plot‑driven readers
• Some threads feel more thematic than resolved
• Ambiguity may frustrate readers craving clear answers
• Large cast occasionally scatters focus
THE EMILYS
Heather Abel • Publishes 6/16/26
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to @netgalley, @randomhouse & @heatherkabel for the ARC in exchange for a review.
Eve is barely holding it together raising two kids alone while her husband chases his music career in New York. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Demeter, she learns Demeter’s daughter, like a growing number of others, can no longer go outside during the day without getting sick. These people are called the Emilys.
No one can explain it. Most don’t even believe it. But Eve does, and her search for answers pulls her into a strange, quietly radical community chasing a truth that feels just out of reach and maybe a future none of them are ready for.
⸻
The Emilys is an ambitious novel that sits at the intersection of climate fiction and cozy small‑town mystery. Abel builds a world uncomfortably close to ours, where a growing number of people, the “Emilys,” named after Emily Dickinson become physically unable to endure daylight.
It’s quirky, yes, but also deeply moving — part speculative fiction, part human drama — exploring how we adapt when the world fundamentally changes. The atmosphere shines: moody, lush, and tenderly focused on how we care for one another when everything shifts beneath our feet. The premise is brilliant, though at times the story tries to do too much, slowing the pace and scattering focus.
The characters are weird in the best way, but there are a lot of them from feuding librarians to a hermit botanist. These people add so much local flavor. However, all those subplots made me lose track of Eve and her own emotional journey.
It’s a beautiful, thought‑provoking read that just needed a bit more focus to hit that five‑star mark. Abel makes you think about community, climate anxiety, and how we connect when everything goes sideways.
✅ WHAT WORKED
• Atmospheric tone — dreamlike and immersive
• Complex female friendships — messy, real, layered
• Strong sense of place and community
• Thoughtful motherhood themes — isolation and identity
• Slow‑build mystery grounded in emotion
• Beautiful writing — reflective and lyrical
⚠️ WHAT DIDN’T WORK
• Pacing drags — not ideal for plot‑driven readers
• Some threads feel more thematic than resolved
• Ambiguity may frustrate readers craving clear answers
• Large cast occasionally scatters focus
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I hate to say it, because the cover is absolutely gorgeous and I wanted to love this, but The Emilys is a novel that feels less interested in providing answers than it is in asking questions. It’s a literary mystery (kind of) that explores community, environmental anxiety, and what happens when an unexplained illness begins spreading through a small Massachusetts town, It then follows the people that are impacted by this illness while they’re forced to navigate disbelief, fear, and isolation.
What worked best for me was the premise… which isn’t a good sign. The idea of a mysterious condition that prevents people from being in sunlight is super intriguing, and I appreciated how the novel used that concept to examine larger issues surrounding illness, climate change, and the ways society responds to suffering that cannot be easily explained. The atmosphere often felt unsettling and thought-provoking, and there were several moments where I found myself deeply invested in the questions the story was raising.
That said, I really struggled with the execution. The novel follows a large cast of characters, and while some perspectives added depth, others pulled me away from the central storyline. I found myself most interested in Eve’s journey and her complicated friendship with Demeter, but every time I became fully invested, the narrative shifted elsewhere. The constant movement between viewpoints made the pacing feel uneven and sometimes diluted the emotional impact.
The writing is undeniably ambitious and often beautiful, but at times it felt overly dense. There were stretches where the prose and philosophical tangents overshadowed the story itself, making it difficult to maintain momentum. I also wished for more narrative tension and a stronger sense of resolution by the end. The novel raises fascinating ideas, but many of the questions and character arcs felt intentionally open-ended in a way that left me more frustrated than satisfied.
The Emilys is a thoughtful and imaginative novel with compelling themes and memorable moments, but its sprawling structure and meandering focus kept me from fully connecting with it. Readers who enjoy character-driven literary fiction and don’t mind ambiguity will likely find more to appreciate here than I did.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this eARC!
What worked best for me was the premise… which isn’t a good sign. The idea of a mysterious condition that prevents people from being in sunlight is super intriguing, and I appreciated how the novel used that concept to examine larger issues surrounding illness, climate change, and the ways society responds to suffering that cannot be easily explained. The atmosphere often felt unsettling and thought-provoking, and there were several moments where I found myself deeply invested in the questions the story was raising.
That said, I really struggled with the execution. The novel follows a large cast of characters, and while some perspectives added depth, others pulled me away from the central storyline. I found myself most interested in Eve’s journey and her complicated friendship with Demeter, but every time I became fully invested, the narrative shifted elsewhere. The constant movement between viewpoints made the pacing feel uneven and sometimes diluted the emotional impact.
The writing is undeniably ambitious and often beautiful, but at times it felt overly dense. There were stretches where the prose and philosophical tangents overshadowed the story itself, making it difficult to maintain momentum. I also wished for more narrative tension and a stronger sense of resolution by the end. The novel raises fascinating ideas, but many of the questions and character arcs felt intentionally open-ended in a way that left me more frustrated than satisfied.
The Emilys is a thoughtful and imaginative novel with compelling themes and memorable moments, but its sprawling structure and meandering focus kept me from fully connecting with it. Readers who enjoy character-driven literary fiction and don’t mind ambiguity will likely find more to appreciate here than I did.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this eARC!
June 17, 2026
A community searches for answers to a mysterious ailment's spread
In a small Massachusetts town Eve finds herself frustrated and isolated. Her husband is off in NYC pursuing his music, leaving Eve behind with their two children. A chance encounter with a charismatic childhood friend, Demeter, provides Eve with a cause that could bring purpose to her life. Demeter's teenage daughter is suffering from a condition which makes it impossible for her to go outside during the daytime hours, and the girl is not alone...the number of "Emily"s (a moniker coined from the area's famous literary recluse, Emily Dickinson) is growing. The medical community is skeptical that the sufferers' symptoms are real, but Emily believes her distraught friend and wants to find a way to help. She joins forces with an eclectic group of townspeople, each of whom has their own motivations for involvement, in an effort to find answers to what is causing the affliction and how to cure it. But this quest comes with a downside, affecting her relationship with her husband, her kids, and even Demeter...is it worth the price?
The Emilys is a literary novel, a quiet tale driven by the characters' stories rather than its plot. Author Heather Abel uses her prose to skillfully create vivid characters, and the story's evocation of a sudden outbreak of an illness which has a huge effect on a community is quite timely given the recents days of living with COVID-era restrictions. There are elements of mystery and social commentary woven together with themes of women's friendships, class tensions, community activism, climate issues and the many forms of love in the world. In short, there is a lot going on and a large cast involved, at times perhaps too much and too many for solid cohesion. I found myself wishing that it was a little tighter and that the perspectives and ideas didn't shift about quite so much ..the word "kaleidoscopic' is often used in describing it. Overall, the lovely writing style and compassionate feel are the highlights of a thoughtful tale likely to appeal to readers of Jeffrey Eugenides, Ruth Ozecki and Sarah Winman, while it is a harder sell for those looking for a narrative with strong momentum. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me access to the novel in exchange for my honest review.
In a small Massachusetts town Eve finds herself frustrated and isolated. Her husband is off in NYC pursuing his music, leaving Eve behind with their two children. A chance encounter with a charismatic childhood friend, Demeter, provides Eve with a cause that could bring purpose to her life. Demeter's teenage daughter is suffering from a condition which makes it impossible for her to go outside during the daytime hours, and the girl is not alone...the number of "Emily"s (a moniker coined from the area's famous literary recluse, Emily Dickinson) is growing. The medical community is skeptical that the sufferers' symptoms are real, but Emily believes her distraught friend and wants to find a way to help. She joins forces with an eclectic group of townspeople, each of whom has their own motivations for involvement, in an effort to find answers to what is causing the affliction and how to cure it. But this quest comes with a downside, affecting her relationship with her husband, her kids, and even Demeter...is it worth the price?
The Emilys is a literary novel, a quiet tale driven by the characters' stories rather than its plot. Author Heather Abel uses her prose to skillfully create vivid characters, and the story's evocation of a sudden outbreak of an illness which has a huge effect on a community is quite timely given the recents days of living with COVID-era restrictions. There are elements of mystery and social commentary woven together with themes of women's friendships, class tensions, community activism, climate issues and the many forms of love in the world. In short, there is a lot going on and a large cast involved, at times perhaps too much and too many for solid cohesion. I found myself wishing that it was a little tighter and that the perspectives and ideas didn't shift about quite so much ..the word "kaleidoscopic' is often used in describing it. Overall, the lovely writing style and compassionate feel are the highlights of a thoughtful tale likely to appeal to readers of Jeffrey Eugenides, Ruth Ozecki and Sarah Winman, while it is a harder sell for those looking for a narrative with strong momentum. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me access to the novel in exchange for my honest review.
June 28, 2026
The Emilys takes an experience that many women are used to in medicine and uses it as a device for the parent/child relationship.
Eve made a deal with her husband so they would get married and have kids. At 33, she thought she knew what she was doing, but then COVID happened, and, like many people, her entire life changed. Just when she needs it, she runs into her old childhood friend Demeter. Eve enjoys catching up, but the reason Demeter has come back is to see a special doctor for her daughter, who, like a growing number of others, cannot go outside during the day without immense pain and vomiting. The patients are soon dubbed Emilys, after the famously reclusive lesbian poet, and most people, including doctors, don’t believe them. But Eve believes her friend and decides she will do whatever she can to help Demeter. This includes joining an assorted group of civilians looking for the answer, as well as her mom, with whom she has a love/hate relationship with.
I’m going to be honest, I was very confused about several things in this novel. The first confusion comes from someone who has rare disorders. There are recorded illnesses regarding photosensitivity, so I couldn’t suspend disbelief that doctors would ignore this. But there were things that were perfect: the way they treated the patient like they were depressed, lazy, etc. My own PCP tried to blame my own illness on my anxiety and depression instead of looking deeper. Heather Abel skews her patients with more males than you would typically find in a group where people are ignored because the percentage of men getting medically gaslighted is very low.
The second thing about the novel is that, despite the novel’s title, the book isn’t about the illness. This book is mostly about mothers and daughters (with some time spent on fathers and sons), with a dash of what friendship is. The illness becomes an axis for these relationships. And regardless of what the author says in her Acknowledgements, there are mommie/daughter issues somewhere in the family, because I walked away with a bad taste in my mouth about being a daughter. And while we got one POV from one of the ill, readers didn’t get enough of what it’s actually like when you’re being over-cared for when you are safe to do things (we only see when she’s unsafe to do things).
I found this book overly critical (lots of misogyny going on here), overwritten, and often times downright stupid (to be derivative as Eve’s mother’s friends would say). In a post-COVID world, The Emily’s doesn’t sit right with me.
I received an ARC from the publisher; all opinions are my own.
Eve made a deal with her husband so they would get married and have kids. At 33, she thought she knew what she was doing, but then COVID happened, and, like many people, her entire life changed. Just when she needs it, she runs into her old childhood friend Demeter. Eve enjoys catching up, but the reason Demeter has come back is to see a special doctor for her daughter, who, like a growing number of others, cannot go outside during the day without immense pain and vomiting. The patients are soon dubbed Emilys, after the famously reclusive lesbian poet, and most people, including doctors, don’t believe them. But Eve believes her friend and decides she will do whatever she can to help Demeter. This includes joining an assorted group of civilians looking for the answer, as well as her mom, with whom she has a love/hate relationship with.
I’m going to be honest, I was very confused about several things in this novel. The first confusion comes from someone who has rare disorders. There are recorded illnesses regarding photosensitivity, so I couldn’t suspend disbelief that doctors would ignore this. But there were things that were perfect: the way they treated the patient like they were depressed, lazy, etc. My own PCP tried to blame my own illness on my anxiety and depression instead of looking deeper. Heather Abel skews her patients with more males than you would typically find in a group where people are ignored because the percentage of men getting medically gaslighted is very low.
The second thing about the novel is that, despite the novel’s title, the book isn’t about the illness. This book is mostly about mothers and daughters (with some time spent on fathers and sons), with a dash of what friendship is. The illness becomes an axis for these relationships. And regardless of what the author says in her Acknowledgements, there are mommie/daughter issues somewhere in the family, because I walked away with a bad taste in my mouth about being a daughter. And while we got one POV from one of the ill, readers didn’t get enough of what it’s actually like when you’re being over-cared for when you are safe to do things (we only see when she’s unsafe to do things).
I found this book overly critical (lots of misogyny going on here), overwritten, and often times downright stupid (to be derivative as Eve’s mother’s friends would say). In a post-COVID world, The Emily’s doesn’t sit right with me.
I received an ARC from the publisher; all opinions are my own.
June 17, 2026
Welp! Ever read a book and then put it down and not know how you really feel about it? That was my experience with reading The Emilys. Firstly, it is a slow burn. I am not a slow burn kinda gal. I like things to move along at a nice pace. I read to escape, to live in distant lands, to experience new things, to grow, to learn, to be thrilled, to be scared, to be excited - you get the picture. Many reviewers have used the word "meander" to describe the plot of The Emilys and I agree with them. This book just plods along page after page as Eve attempts to manage her life in Massachusetts while her husband is in NYC working at his music career in a post pandemic world. When Eve runs into her childhood friend, Demeter, thing take a turn as Demeter's daughter cannot go outside during the day.....
This book has many themes - motherhood, friendship, childhood, sickness, loneliness, love, nature, and social commentary on the planet. I struggled with the slowness, the plot, and not being able to connect with Eve. Readers are introduced to many characters with some having more significance than others.
There were sections where I really enjoyed the writing and thought the author did a great job with descriptions. But at the end of the day, I struggled with this book and wish I knew it was a slow burn going in. While this book didn't quite work for me, other readers are enjoying it, so please read their reviews as well. We can't love them all and sometimes we are not the right reader for certain books.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book has many themes - motherhood, friendship, childhood, sickness, loneliness, love, nature, and social commentary on the planet. I struggled with the slowness, the plot, and not being able to connect with Eve. Readers are introduced to many characters with some having more significance than others.
There were sections where I really enjoyed the writing and thought the author did a great job with descriptions. But at the end of the day, I struggled with this book and wish I knew it was a slow burn going in. While this book didn't quite work for me, other readers are enjoying it, so please read their reviews as well. We can't love them all and sometimes we are not the right reader for certain books.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
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