Immaculate

by Elisabeth DeRichmond

326 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2026

Reviews

[Emily]

Immaculate is a thoughtful novel following the life of Emily Catherine, a privileged young Catholic woman navigating the changing world of early 1900s San Francisco. The novel begins when Emily Catherine is a young girl and moves through her life, highlighting the major events and how they develop her character and beliefs.

I rate this book 3.5 stars because I enjoyed some parts of it but not others.

I liked Emily Catherine and thought the author did well developing her character over time. The author also did a great job showing the effects of heartbreak and grief and how they change a person and can steal their joy in life. Additionally, I appreciated the accurate way that the author portrayed grace - how some religious people who talk about grace are judgmental in reality, but how others show the real meaning of grace.

However, I found the pacing of this novel to be slower than I liked. It was hard to stay focused on it, but perhaps that is only my preference. I also didn’t enjoy some of the choices Emily Catherine made in her love life toward the end of the book. They were morally wrong, which made me dislike her, regardless of her reasons. It was also so unrealistic to me that one man just went along with it, got walked on and humiliated, and then had perfectly great, familial relationships with Emily Catherine and the others involved.

This novel ends in the mid-20th century, and by that time, the major characters had developed a modern understanding of family, feminism, faith, and morality. While I agree with most of what the novel promotes, I struggle to believe that real people living in that time period would have quite such progressive beliefs.

On the whole, I had mixed feelings about this book. If you enjoy historical sagas following an individual's personal growth, then I recommend this book.

I received a complementary copy of this book. All opinions are exclusively my own.

[Jack]

I picked up Immaculate expecting a historical family saga but I got so much more. Emily Catherine felt incredibly real to me. Her mistakes, regrets, and attempts to make peace with the past made her one of the most human characters Ive read in a long time what affected me most was the way the novel explores the secrets families keep and how those secrets shape future generations. The ending was beautiful, emotional, and deeply satisfying. This is the kind of book that lingers in your thoughts for days.

[Stephen]

A beautifully written debut immaculate explores how the past continues to shape the present. I appreciated the novels compassion for its characters and its hopeful message about redemption.

[Adam Rodriguez]

What I loved most was the way the author portrays women across generations. Their hopes, fears, sacrifices, and struggles felt authentic and nuanced. Emily Catherine's story is powerful, but so are the stories of the women around her. The novel asks difficult questions about loyalty, shame, motherhood, and truth without offering easy answers.

[Duke]

I could not stop thinking about Immaculate by Elisabeth DeRichmond after I finished it. Emily Catherine's story felt deeply personal, and the way family secrets echoed across generations was both heartbreaking and beautifully written.

[Elizabeth Gephardt]

This novel immaculate reminded me why I love historical fiction. The San Francisco setting is vivid and immersive but the real strength of the book is its emotional depth. The idea that silence can be inherited from one generation to the next felt incredibly powerful. I found myself highlighting passages and thinking about my own family history. Emily Catherine's journey is heartbreaking at times but ultimately hopeful.

[Elvira Sanchez]

This book hit close to home. Every family has things that are never discussed, stories that get buried, and wounds that are passed down without explanation. Immaculate captures that reality beautifully. The novel isn't about villains and heroes. It's about ordinary people making complicated decisions and living with the consequences. That felt very true to life.

[Gustave Generani]

my book club chose immaculate and it sparked one of the best discussions we hve had all year. Everyone connected with different aspects of the story. Some focused on the family secrets others on the historical setting and others on the relationships between mothers and daughters. There is so much to unpack here. We talked about it for nearly two hours.

[Sandara Joy]

The characters felt like real people making difficult choices rather than fictional heroes. Their flaws made them more enticing, and the story's message about truth was powerful. I totally love Immaculate and recommend everyone.