What do you think?
Rate this book
In Exile
No one in this city has believed in me for two thousand years. I'm unknown and unloved. And I'm very, very ill.' He sighed, and the sound chilled her blood. `Give me your hand.'
Dionysus, god of wine and divine ecstasy, is reborn in modern Rome. He doesn't understand how or why he's come to be here - a pagan god in a city where he has no believers. But when he meets fifteen-year-old Grace during a chance encounter in the Ghetto, he realises he has found his first new follower.
This is the beginning of Grace's secret life, as she and her friends overcome scepticism and fear to become his worshippers, drinking his wine and taking part in bacchanals across the city. As the melancholy god lives out his exile, his teenage followers find they have everything to lose. And after the first bloodshed, they know that there's no turning back...
Dionysus, god of wine and divine ecstasy, is reborn in modern Rome. He doesn't understand how or why he's come to be here - a pagan god in a city where he has no believers. But when he meets fifteen-year-old Grace during a chance encounter in the Ghetto, he realises he has found his first new follower.
This is the beginning of Grace's secret life, as she and her friends overcome scepticism and fear to become his worshippers, drinking his wine and taking part in bacchanals across the city. As the melancholy god lives out his exile, his teenage followers find they have everything to lose. And after the first bloodshed, they know that there's no turning back...
320 pages, Paperback
Published January 24, 2019
3 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Turney
4 books26 followersAlexandra Turney grew up in London and studied English Literature at the University of Oxford. Her love of Romantic poets (and pasta) inspired her to move to Rome, where she has lived since 2013. She works as an English teacher and freelance writer. In Exile is her first novel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 25, 2019
3.5 stars
Three fifteen year old girls getting blotto on wine every Friday night; unable to remember any of the details they spend the rest of the weekend nursing their hangovers. Not terribly unusual behaviour except these are English girls living in Rome, in what I assumed to be the 1950s, although it’s not explicitly stated. Oh, and they’ve fallen in with the Greek god Dionysus and their drinking sessions are actually bacchanals.
Dionysus is disdainful and lethargic, not seemingly someone to inspire devotion but the girls are in thrall to him. He’s awoken to a millennium in which he’s unremembered and unnoticed, and isn’t that just frightfully dull?
Dionysus is mostly in the background and the bacchanals happen off the page – afterwards the girls don’t even remember anything but the haziest details. So this book is really all about the teenage ennui. Grace, the main character, spends a lot of time taking long baths and sulking in her room. They go to school and occasionally venture out on to the streets of Rome. They tell their parents they are having sleepovers, when they’re really with Dionysus.
Slowly, ever so gradually, their secret behaviour begins to escalate (although it is still only hinted at), and the girls’ feelings of doubt and guilt increase. The final violent denouement was described in vague and ambiguous terms, which I actually loved, but it came too late in the book - the very final pages - to have the kind of impact that it warranted.
The girls’ transgressions are very mild by today’s standards, but teenage drunkenness and sexual exploration would have been shocking for the times. It’s as if the author decided to write the kind of book that would have been risqué in the 1950s, rather than applying any sort of modern lens to the proceedings. This makes it feel like a throwback, but I found it an enjoyable one and strangely beguiling in its hazy, gauzy way.
Three fifteen year old girls getting blotto on wine every Friday night; unable to remember any of the details they spend the rest of the weekend nursing their hangovers. Not terribly unusual behaviour except these are English girls living in Rome, in what I assumed to be the 1950s, although it’s not explicitly stated. Oh, and they’ve fallen in with the Greek god Dionysus and their drinking sessions are actually bacchanals.
Dionysus is disdainful and lethargic, not seemingly someone to inspire devotion but the girls are in thrall to him. He’s awoken to a millennium in which he’s unremembered and unnoticed, and isn’t that just frightfully dull?
Dionysus is mostly in the background and the bacchanals happen off the page – afterwards the girls don’t even remember anything but the haziest details. So this book is really all about the teenage ennui. Grace, the main character, spends a lot of time taking long baths and sulking in her room. They go to school and occasionally venture out on to the streets of Rome. They tell their parents they are having sleepovers, when they’re really with Dionysus.
Slowly, ever so gradually, their secret behaviour begins to escalate (although it is still only hinted at), and the girls’ feelings of doubt and guilt increase. The final violent denouement was described in vague and ambiguous terms, which I actually loved, but it came too late in the book - the very final pages - to have the kind of impact that it warranted.
The girls’ transgressions are very mild by today’s standards, but teenage drunkenness and sexual exploration would have been shocking for the times. It’s as if the author decided to write the kind of book that would have been risqué in the 1950s, rather than applying any sort of modern lens to the proceedings. This makes it feel like a throwback, but I found it an enjoyable one and strangely beguiling in its hazy, gauzy way.
January 8, 2019
This book starts as one thing, and swiftly turns into another. And I loved it!
Reading the blurb, I reckoned on a YA cliche of a Greek god coming back to modernity and a teen girl getting all friendly with him
But this is so much more. The author has captured the ennui of the teenage years, where school is boring, and the summers are boring, and life itself feels oppressive, heavy and boring. Our protagonist, Grace, is fifteen and bored. Nothing happens in her town (which we read to be in Greece, though it is not ever explicitly mentioned), her friends are away on holidays, and she can't stand her family. She roams the streets, where she finds... Dionysius, in the flesh, newly in her world and very, very weak. He has no worshippers, no followers, and what is a God without them? So Grace becomes his. And it all starts from there.
I loved that Grace is a typical teenager. She thinks she knows best, but is easily manipulated by the god. I love that Dionysius is so utterly inhuman, cruel and concerned only for himself and the pursuit of divine pleasure... And I love that the further you read into the novel, the darker and more terrifying it becomes. Because when you lose yourself to divine pleasure, it appears you lose your humanity as well.
Highly recommended.
Reading the blurb, I reckoned on a YA cliche of a Greek god coming back to modernity and a teen girl getting all friendly with him
But this is so much more. The author has captured the ennui of the teenage years, where school is boring, and the summers are boring, and life itself feels oppressive, heavy and boring. Our protagonist, Grace, is fifteen and bored. Nothing happens in her town (which we read to be in Greece, though it is not ever explicitly mentioned), her friends are away on holidays, and she can't stand her family. She roams the streets, where she finds... Dionysius, in the flesh, newly in her world and very, very weak. He has no worshippers, no followers, and what is a God without them? So Grace becomes his. And it all starts from there.
I loved that Grace is a typical teenager. She thinks she knows best, but is easily manipulated by the god. I love that Dionysius is so utterly inhuman, cruel and concerned only for himself and the pursuit of divine pleasure... And I love that the further you read into the novel, the darker and more terrifying it becomes. Because when you lose yourself to divine pleasure, it appears you lose your humanity as well.
Highly recommended.
January 5, 2019
A reincarnated Dionysus living in 20th century Rome is identified by a 15-yr old British expat named Grace, who'd just finished reading The Bacchae for her Classics course. Stereotypical teen Grace is bored and helpless; unable to lose weight, to find romance or self-confidence, or to rise above average in Maths, Chemistry, Physics or PE. But that's not to say she's an underdeveloped character; Grace has artistic interests, a delightfully preposterous family background, and an extraordinary imagination, in which she escapes to the safety of dreams of her future self.
Grace introduces Dionysus to her shoplifting friend named Caroline who is over-confident, bossy and beautiful and also to Sara who is sweet, devout and caring. At first the trio's belief in his existence has a healing effect on the ailing god, but nothing is ever enough. These kids spiral out of control, mired in the inevitability of fate, awash in the notion that nothing matters, and defenseless against their dependence, and the violent and terrifying nature of their baser instincts.
a few of my favorite lines:
"Pentheus denies reality, repressing an instinct, the wild and savage part of himself. It's the repression of something natural that causes tragedy. When we deny ourselves we are doomed."
"Men were always subjugating women, making them powerless even as they claimed to love them. But Dionysus understood what women were capable of; he knew they could be stronger, more fearless than any man."
"besides, you couldn't expect the same level of sincerity from gods as you could from humans"
Grace introduces Dionysus to her shoplifting friend named Caroline who is over-confident, bossy and beautiful and also to Sara who is sweet, devout and caring. At first the trio's belief in his existence has a healing effect on the ailing god, but nothing is ever enough. These kids spiral out of control, mired in the inevitability of fate, awash in the notion that nothing matters, and defenseless against their dependence, and the violent and terrifying nature of their baser instincts.
a few of my favorite lines:
"Pentheus denies reality, repressing an instinct, the wild and savage part of himself. It's the repression of something natural that causes tragedy. When we deny ourselves we are doomed."
"Men were always subjugating women, making them powerless even as they claimed to love them. But Dionysus understood what women were capable of; he knew they could be stronger, more fearless than any man."
"besides, you couldn't expect the same level of sincerity from gods as you could from humans"
February 5, 2019
I approach this book from the slightly awkward angle of a 31-year-old bloke reading about expatriate schoolgirls engaging in all manner of shenanigans under unlikely circumstances in Rome. The novel follows our 15-year-old protagonist, Grace, who is bored to buggery with her unfulfilling existence in the Eternal City. Fortunately for her, she has her friends for company: intelligent, attention-seeking Charlotte - the standout character in the book, for me - and forgettable, arch-Catholic Sara - who I could take or leave, to be honest. But a chance encounter with a reincarnated Dionysus, God of Wine and, more interestingly, Ecstasy (ooo, er) leads Grace, along with her mates, down a psychedelic adventure of drunkenness, animal mutilation, sexual awakening and God only knows what else.
In Exile plods along at a respectable pace and I always found myself more than happy to pick it up again and sink deeper into Grace's world. The characterisation is well done and I felt each of the girls was believable in her desires, fears and self-awareness. Dionysus was portrayed suitably as disinterested and preoccupied; he needs the worship of the girls but he couldn't give a damn about them, feels detached from their emotional needs and there is a sense of cyclical inevitability to his time on Earth. I liked the conflict between the motives of the deity and the dames.
This book has a few particular key strengths that I must highlight. First of all, for a debut, the narrative, structure and delivery is handled with the manner of precision that reassures the reader they are in safe hands. Turney's prose doesn't try too hard to do a good job and the casual confidence makes for a better read. This sense of understatement finds its way into the subtlety with which the bacchanals are described. Turney does not give many details of the bacchanals (more as the novel progresses, but never a full-on blow-by-blow account of what happens). Leaving the detail to the reader's imagination helps you connect with the girls whose own memories are pretty much wiped after each 'session' with Dionysus, creating a sense of wonder and anxiety, which also makes you look forward to the next time it happens because you grow in curiosity.
But the biggest strength of In Exile is the sinister atmosphere evoked by the nature of the relationship between Dionysus and the girls. Strip away the mythos and dreaminess and, at its heart, In Exile is a novel about a dangerous male taking advantage of, and exploiting, three young girls. In this sense, the book is a timely depiction of the susceptibility of vulnerable children to grooming. I'm not sure whether Turney intended this as an interpretation, but when you look beyond the idealism of the otherworldly escapism through divine vino, there is a painfully modern - yet timeless - depiction of how easy it is for our own children to be ensnared by something so attractive, yet infinitely lethal.
So, maybe not what I would usually read, but a unique and classy debut from an author to watch. Bottoms up! Chin chin!
In Exile plods along at a respectable pace and I always found myself more than happy to pick it up again and sink deeper into Grace's world. The characterisation is well done and I felt each of the girls was believable in her desires, fears and self-awareness. Dionysus was portrayed suitably as disinterested and preoccupied; he needs the worship of the girls but he couldn't give a damn about them, feels detached from their emotional needs and there is a sense of cyclical inevitability to his time on Earth. I liked the conflict between the motives of the deity and the dames.
This book has a few particular key strengths that I must highlight. First of all, for a debut, the narrative, structure and delivery is handled with the manner of precision that reassures the reader they are in safe hands. Turney's prose doesn't try too hard to do a good job and the casual confidence makes for a better read. This sense of understatement finds its way into the subtlety with which the bacchanals are described. Turney does not give many details of the bacchanals (more as the novel progresses, but never a full-on blow-by-blow account of what happens). Leaving the detail to the reader's imagination helps you connect with the girls whose own memories are pretty much wiped after each 'session' with Dionysus, creating a sense of wonder and anxiety, which also makes you look forward to the next time it happens because you grow in curiosity.
But the biggest strength of In Exile is the sinister atmosphere evoked by the nature of the relationship between Dionysus and the girls. Strip away the mythos and dreaminess and, at its heart, In Exile is a novel about a dangerous male taking advantage of, and exploiting, three young girls. In this sense, the book is a timely depiction of the susceptibility of vulnerable children to grooming. I'm not sure whether Turney intended this as an interpretation, but when you look beyond the idealism of the otherworldly escapism through divine vino, there is a painfully modern - yet timeless - depiction of how easy it is for our own children to be ensnared by something so attractive, yet infinitely lethal.
So, maybe not what I would usually read, but a unique and classy debut from an author to watch. Bottoms up! Chin chin!
July 31, 2020
A character in this entertaining and sometimes disturbing book at one point references the real life teenage girls depicted in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, and like that film, In Exile understands that there are few states as powerful as being bored teenage girls with vivid imaginations.
Alone in a foreign city with a family more concerned with their own lives, and at the height of summer, it's not surprising that the imagination of Grace, the book's protagonist, is powerful enough to accidently summon a real Greek god. However, In Exile's Dionysus, forced back to life once again by the humans he looks down on but cannot live without, is far from the human-like demigod seen in many recent pop culture treatments of mythology. He is dangerous, and alien, and worshipping him will exact a terrible price. This is a welcome variation on the idea that classical gods were basically humans with magical powers, a take that can be fun, but neglects much that is truly frightening about the depictions in some texts. (In fact, Turney's Dionysus turns this explicitly on its head: Christ was just a man, he tells us, and his lot are the real gods.)
It is this combination of realistic teenage angst with believable divinity that made In Exile stand out for me. It can be somewhat distancing to have so little insight into what Dionysus actually wants, but the effect makes him seem more godlike than attempting to understand what a god would really feel. This dreamlike effect is emphasised by the (I think intentional) confusion over time period - the story could be set at any time since the invention of the television - and a lack of detailed description of Rome; to this foreigner, anyway.
One criticism I would make is that after a long and languid account of repeated Bacchanals in the countryside, the end of the novel comes very quickly and left me feeling unresolved. But perhaps that's the way of things with gods.
Alone in a foreign city with a family more concerned with their own lives, and at the height of summer, it's not surprising that the imagination of Grace, the book's protagonist, is powerful enough to accidently summon a real Greek god. However, In Exile's Dionysus, forced back to life once again by the humans he looks down on but cannot live without, is far from the human-like demigod seen in many recent pop culture treatments of mythology. He is dangerous, and alien, and worshipping him will exact a terrible price. This is a welcome variation on the idea that classical gods were basically humans with magical powers, a take that can be fun, but neglects much that is truly frightening about the depictions in some texts. (In fact, Turney's Dionysus turns this explicitly on its head: Christ was just a man, he tells us, and his lot are the real gods.)
It is this combination of realistic teenage angst with believable divinity that made In Exile stand out for me. It can be somewhat distancing to have so little insight into what Dionysus actually wants, but the effect makes him seem more godlike than attempting to understand what a god would really feel. This dreamlike effect is emphasised by the (I think intentional) confusion over time period - the story could be set at any time since the invention of the television - and a lack of detailed description of Rome; to this foreigner, anyway.
One criticism I would make is that after a long and languid account of repeated Bacchanals in the countryside, the end of the novel comes very quickly and left me feeling unresolved. But perhaps that's the way of things with gods.
March 13, 2019
This was such a brilliant change of pace to my usual reads, it was unique and just that bit surprising!!
I love the fact that the teenage attitude is very realistic, the Author has recreated a typical Teen attitude wonderfully, and at the start I was really wondering how Dionysus was going to fit in with that realism, but I loved how the Author handled it! Typical teen who is bored and fed up with life, and of course knows best. So meeting a God, obviously the teens are going to do the whole “I know best” routine.
I really enjoyed this element, because it was wonderful believable! They being to remember things that have happened whilst with Dionysus, they hide it all from their parents and they get pulled in fast without realising. Sounds perfectly feasible to me!
I don’t want to say more about the story in case I spoil anything! But I really did enjoy how it developed. It started as a general sort of teen angst story, and actually became something very different, very enjoyable, and surprisingly honest in many ways.
I also loved the fact that although this is (as you can tell from the blurb) about potentially distressing scenes for younger readers (teens perhaps) the Author has handled this by not being heavy on the details of WHAT happened, but we can make it out from their conversations and suspicions. I actually felt that this made it more believable in a way, and relatable to many situations. Teens are generally liable to get into something thinking they’re in control, and wind up deeper than they intended faster than they can react.
The teens are just that. Teens. They drink, they think the world is against them and they know better, and everyone else is responsible for their woes.
This was a very easy read that’s very different to anything else I have ever read, and certainly one I will return to! If you’re looking for something that’s believable but Fictional, Historical but Current all at the same time, then this is perfect!
I love the fact that the teenage attitude is very realistic, the Author has recreated a typical Teen attitude wonderfully, and at the start I was really wondering how Dionysus was going to fit in with that realism, but I loved how the Author handled it! Typical teen who is bored and fed up with life, and of course knows best. So meeting a God, obviously the teens are going to do the whole “I know best” routine.
I really enjoyed this element, because it was wonderful believable! They being to remember things that have happened whilst with Dionysus, they hide it all from their parents and they get pulled in fast without realising. Sounds perfectly feasible to me!
I don’t want to say more about the story in case I spoil anything! But I really did enjoy how it developed. It started as a general sort of teen angst story, and actually became something very different, very enjoyable, and surprisingly honest in many ways.
I also loved the fact that although this is (as you can tell from the blurb) about potentially distressing scenes for younger readers (teens perhaps) the Author has handled this by not being heavy on the details of WHAT happened, but we can make it out from their conversations and suspicions. I actually felt that this made it more believable in a way, and relatable to many situations. Teens are generally liable to get into something thinking they’re in control, and wind up deeper than they intended faster than they can react.
The teens are just that. Teens. They drink, they think the world is against them and they know better, and everyone else is responsible for their woes.
This was a very easy read that’s very different to anything else I have ever read, and certainly one I will return to! If you’re looking for something that’s believable but Fictional, Historical but Current all at the same time, then this is perfect!
July 28, 2019
A tale of a reborn god
My thanks to Unbound Digital for a digital edition via NetGalley of Alexandra Turney’s ‘In Exile’ in exchange for an honest review. It was published in January 2019. I have since bought my own copy.
The Greek god of wine and divine ecstasy, Dionysus, is reborn in modern-day Rome. He is melancholy and feeling unloved given that he has had no worshippers for many years. Then he meets fifteen-year old British ex-pat Grace, who has just read The Bacchae for her Classics course. She is able to identify Dionysus and is intrigued by him.
Before long Grace and her school friends, Sara and Caroline, are secretly meeting with Dionysus and engaging in weekly bacchanals. They find that they have very little memory of these sessions. As the year progresses these become more disturbing as Dionysus grows strong feeding off their adoration.
Although this has themes of faith and religion at its heart with the premise of a reborn pagan god, it can also be read as symbolic of the kind of exploitation that some young women fall victim to.
I have to admit that before reading ‘In Exile’ I had anticipated a much lighter book about a modern day teen’s encounter with a Greek god; yet I welcomed this darker tale, which so accurately portrayed the lure of embracing the unknown and losing one’s self in divine ecstasy.
This proved an intelligent and intense coming-of-age story. It is beautifully and passionately written with vivid descriptions of its setting. The more explicit aspects of the bacchanals are left to the reader’s imagination as Turney offers glimpses of the girls’ disturbing morning afters.
It is a novel that I will likely return to and reread in order to further appreciate its themes and symbolism. I shall also be recommending it as a reading group selection given the scope for discussion of its various aspects.
My thanks to Unbound Digital for a digital edition via NetGalley of Alexandra Turney’s ‘In Exile’ in exchange for an honest review. It was published in January 2019. I have since bought my own copy.
The Greek god of wine and divine ecstasy, Dionysus, is reborn in modern-day Rome. He is melancholy and feeling unloved given that he has had no worshippers for many years. Then he meets fifteen-year old British ex-pat Grace, who has just read The Bacchae for her Classics course. She is able to identify Dionysus and is intrigued by him.
Before long Grace and her school friends, Sara and Caroline, are secretly meeting with Dionysus and engaging in weekly bacchanals. They find that they have very little memory of these sessions. As the year progresses these become more disturbing as Dionysus grows strong feeding off their adoration.
Although this has themes of faith and religion at its heart with the premise of a reborn pagan god, it can also be read as symbolic of the kind of exploitation that some young women fall victim to.
I have to admit that before reading ‘In Exile’ I had anticipated a much lighter book about a modern day teen’s encounter with a Greek god; yet I welcomed this darker tale, which so accurately portrayed the lure of embracing the unknown and losing one’s self in divine ecstasy.
This proved an intelligent and intense coming-of-age story. It is beautifully and passionately written with vivid descriptions of its setting. The more explicit aspects of the bacchanals are left to the reader’s imagination as Turney offers glimpses of the girls’ disturbing morning afters.
It is a novel that I will likely return to and reread in order to further appreciate its themes and symbolism. I shall also be recommending it as a reading group selection given the scope for discussion of its various aspects.
January 17, 2021
Nej, nej, nej.
Den här boken har en supermysig premiss (Dionysos återföds i ett hyfsat modernt Rom där ingen dyrkar honom längre) men den hade verkligen behövt en bättre författare.
15-åriga Grace hittar en snubbe på gatan och eftersom hon studerar klassisk litteratur känner hon genast igen honom som guden Dionysos. Fråga mig inte hur. Den, i den här skildringen, helt charmlöse guden Dionysos lyckas få Grace och hennes två vänner att börja dyrka honom och backanalerna börjar. Tyvärr får vi inte veta vad som händer på backanalerna, de beskrivs överhuvudtaget inte. Vem i helvete skriver en bok om Dionysos utan att berätta om backanalerna?
Istället får vi en urtråkig skildring av tre tonåringars skoldagar, deras helt ointressanta samtal om hur de ska lura sina föräldrar att låta de tillbringa nätterna ute.
Nej och åter nej.
Den här boken har en supermysig premiss (Dionysos återföds i ett hyfsat modernt Rom där ingen dyrkar honom längre) men den hade verkligen behövt en bättre författare.
15-åriga Grace hittar en snubbe på gatan och eftersom hon studerar klassisk litteratur känner hon genast igen honom som guden Dionysos. Fråga mig inte hur. Den, i den här skildringen, helt charmlöse guden Dionysos lyckas få Grace och hennes två vänner att börja dyrka honom och backanalerna börjar. Tyvärr får vi inte veta vad som händer på backanalerna, de beskrivs överhuvudtaget inte. Vem i helvete skriver en bok om Dionysos utan att berätta om backanalerna?
Istället får vi en urtråkig skildring av tre tonåringars skoldagar, deras helt ointressanta samtal om hur de ska lura sina föräldrar att låta de tillbringa nätterna ute.
Nej och åter nej.
March 16, 2020
In her first novel
In Exile
the author Alexandra Turney throws you into the Eternal city. The city itself is completely overlooked, which I actually rather enjoyed. However, it find the fact that the story seems so timeless quite symbolic because of its setting. The book itself is divided into three parts which are separated very logically. Each of the parts represents the emotions that mainly the protagonist Grace, but also her friends Caroline and Sara are experiencing towards the god Dionysus.
On the very first page we are introduced to Dionysus who wakes up in modern Rome. He is instantly confronted with the fact that not a single soul worships him still. At the same moment, in the same city, a girl is bored to death. Her name is Grace. She is angsty, melodramatic, has questionable taste in (girl)friends and is longing for an adventure she will not forget. Little does she know that on an innocent walk she will encounter a stranger who will fill her with fear and love she has never felt before.
I have many opinions on this book, and also many emotions. At first the book was quite fast paced, then in the second part it slowed down tremendously. I hoped it would become a bit faster paced, which it did in the third part. I love the faster paced parts better. I simply felt as if at moments the author simply didn't know how to fill the in-betweens and connect the main plot points. She didn't do a bad job, far from that, it was simply noticeable to me.
The characters. Hmm. I longed to love them. Especially Caroline and Dionysus. Simply because those two seems like they had that unique dark potential I enjoy so much. However, Dionysus seem a bit flat most of the time. There were moments when we were given a glimpse into his thoughts, but they were short and simply not enough for me to connect with him. And Caroline was at the beginning simply unlikable, then I despised her, but when she became even more important to Grace that before I liked her a bit more. I simply feel like Caroline could have been given so much more depth and flesh. Sara was such an uninteresting character I know I will forget her quite soon.
I am not sure if all these things were ment to be this way, but they bugged me (except for the Sara part, I don't really care about her).
In conclusion, this is a fine book. It had a charming bit of greek mythology, which I always appreciate. When I started reading it I hadn't heard it being compared to The Secret History by Donna Tartt, but I soon discovered it had the same vibe. I will not implicate that there is some sort of plagiarism here, because there isn't! Simply, there are some similarities in the stories. The main reason I am mentioning this is because if you enjoyed The Secret History or any other dark academia novel then you will probably enjoy this one as well. Also, I just wanted to say that I really like the cover!
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
On the very first page we are introduced to Dionysus who wakes up in modern Rome. He is instantly confronted with the fact that not a single soul worships him still. At the same moment, in the same city, a girl is bored to death. Her name is Grace. She is angsty, melodramatic, has questionable taste in (girl)friends and is longing for an adventure she will not forget. Little does she know that on an innocent walk she will encounter a stranger who will fill her with fear and love she has never felt before.
I have many opinions on this book, and also many emotions. At first the book was quite fast paced, then in the second part it slowed down tremendously. I hoped it would become a bit faster paced, which it did in the third part. I love the faster paced parts better. I simply felt as if at moments the author simply didn't know how to fill the in-betweens and connect the main plot points. She didn't do a bad job, far from that, it was simply noticeable to me.
The characters. Hmm. I longed to love them. Especially Caroline and Dionysus. Simply because those two seems like they had that unique dark potential I enjoy so much. However, Dionysus seem a bit flat most of the time. There were moments when we were given a glimpse into his thoughts, but they were short and simply not enough for me to connect with him. And Caroline was at the beginning simply unlikable, then I despised her, but when she became even more important to Grace that before I liked her a bit more. I simply feel like Caroline could have been given so much more depth and flesh. Sara was such an uninteresting character I know I will forget her quite soon.
I am not sure if all these things were ment to be this way, but they bugged me (except for the Sara part, I don't really care about her).
In conclusion, this is a fine book. It had a charming bit of greek mythology, which I always appreciate. When I started reading it I hadn't heard it being compared to The Secret History by Donna Tartt, but I soon discovered it had the same vibe. I will not implicate that there is some sort of plagiarism here, because there isn't! Simply, there are some similarities in the stories. The main reason I am mentioning this is because if you enjoyed The Secret History or any other dark academia novel then you will probably enjoy this one as well. Also, I just wanted to say that I really like the cover!
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
February 16, 2020
I'd rate this 4.5 stars if I could.
I agree with some of the reviewers that the book could use more tension and conflict, but even though I correctly predicted the ending, I was surprised by some of the plot twists along the way.
The characters feel realistic. They're upper-middle class English girls living in Rome in another decade (when people still used landline phones) and you can tell. Take the main character, for example. She's sheltered, self-absorbed, she has a couple of casually racist thoughts and homeless people make her feel uncomfortable, but some of her other traits and ideas are relatable and even sympathetic. The same is true of the people around her. I appreciated this, it made the characters feel more vivid and complex.
The author did a really good job when it comes to capturing that restless, bored teenage mood, and the way teenagers can want their parents affection and reassurance while wanting space to venture out on their own. I've never led a double life like these characters, but the way they feel about it makes sense to me.
I've seen comparisons to The Secret History. They make sense, but while The Secret History delivers on the tension, I liked In Exile better. The characters aren't some sexually dysfunctional rich nerds, and they've actually met Dionysus instead of doing what they do for no real reason. The Secret History focuses more on male characters, whereas In Exile is very much about teenage girls trying to make sense of the world.
I know the author personally but this hasn't affected my review.
I agree with some of the reviewers that the book could use more tension and conflict, but even though I correctly predicted the ending, I was surprised by some of the plot twists along the way.
The characters feel realistic. They're upper-middle class English girls living in Rome in another decade (when people still used landline phones) and you can tell. Take the main character, for example. She's sheltered, self-absorbed, she has a couple of casually racist thoughts and homeless people make her feel uncomfortable, but some of her other traits and ideas are relatable and even sympathetic. The same is true of the people around her. I appreciated this, it made the characters feel more vivid and complex.
The author did a really good job when it comes to capturing that restless, bored teenage mood, and the way teenagers can want their parents affection and reassurance while wanting space to venture out on their own. I've never led a double life like these characters, but the way they feel about it makes sense to me.
I've seen comparisons to The Secret History. They make sense, but while The Secret History delivers on the tension, I liked In Exile better. The characters aren't some sexually dysfunctional rich nerds, and they've actually met Dionysus instead of doing what they do for no real reason. The Secret History focuses more on male characters, whereas In Exile is very much about teenage girls trying to make sense of the world.
I know the author personally but this hasn't affected my review.
March 19, 2019
*I received a free ARC of this book with thanks to the author, Unbound, and Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Alexandra Turney conjures a haunting nostalgia for the languid boredom of teenage summer holidays, crossed with a darker, more insidious restlessness that can only lead to madness, violence and worse.
The story unsettles on two layers. On the surface we have a mythological fairytale of young girls being led into danger by a shadowy (potentially evil, certainly alien) older male figure. At a deeper level perhaps we just have the hysteria of teenaged girls, overwhelmed by hormones, on the cusp of adulthood, eagerly grasping at pleasures desired, feared, but not yet understood. These two stories run concurrently and it is impossible to detect shifts between the two possibilities, especially as the climax builds and emotions run high.
There are scenes of graphic violence and sexual content, which may disturb some readers. For myself, I found these scenes surreal and dreamlike: simultaneously disturbing and dismissable. This mirrors the experience of our main character Grace as she struggles to understand the import of actions she can barely remember.
Dionysus is not just the god of alcoholic pleasure orgies, but the god of ritual madness and religious ecstasy, and those familiar with Grace’s study text The Bacchae will realise early on that this story is a classic Greek tragedy. Sure enough, we watch events spiral out of control as the primitive desires (fuelled by wine and lust) slowly override and erode the rational mind, social influence and moral conscience leading to the inevitable outcomes of death and madness.
Not an easy read, but a terribly compelling one. Down this way madness lies…
They stared at each other. Grace saw that his brown eyes were almost black, and felt a sudden chill come over her. She usually found dark eyes beautiful, but his were hollow, shallow – she didn’t know what, but something wasn’t right. His golden skin had a kind of pallor, and his lips were pale and dry. He must be ill. An alcoholic, she guessed wildly.
‘Don’t you need anything?’ Grace asked, preparing to make her escape as soon as she had done her charitable duty.
‘I want lots of things,’ said the man in his peculiar, lilting voice. ‘But I have everything I need.’
– Alexandra Turney, In Exile
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
Alexandra Turney conjures a haunting nostalgia for the languid boredom of teenage summer holidays, crossed with a darker, more insidious restlessness that can only lead to madness, violence and worse.
The story unsettles on two layers. On the surface we have a mythological fairytale of young girls being led into danger by a shadowy (potentially evil, certainly alien) older male figure. At a deeper level perhaps we just have the hysteria of teenaged girls, overwhelmed by hormones, on the cusp of adulthood, eagerly grasping at pleasures desired, feared, but not yet understood. These two stories run concurrently and it is impossible to detect shifts between the two possibilities, especially as the climax builds and emotions run high.
There are scenes of graphic violence and sexual content, which may disturb some readers. For myself, I found these scenes surreal and dreamlike: simultaneously disturbing and dismissable. This mirrors the experience of our main character Grace as she struggles to understand the import of actions she can barely remember.
Dionysus is not just the god of alcoholic pleasure orgies, but the god of ritual madness and religious ecstasy, and those familiar with Grace’s study text The Bacchae will realise early on that this story is a classic Greek tragedy. Sure enough, we watch events spiral out of control as the primitive desires (fuelled by wine and lust) slowly override and erode the rational mind, social influence and moral conscience leading to the inevitable outcomes of death and madness.
Not an easy read, but a terribly compelling one. Down this way madness lies…
They stared at each other. Grace saw that his brown eyes were almost black, and felt a sudden chill come over her. She usually found dark eyes beautiful, but his were hollow, shallow – she didn’t know what, but something wasn’t right. His golden skin had a kind of pallor, and his lips were pale and dry. He must be ill. An alcoholic, she guessed wildly.
‘Don’t you need anything?’ Grace asked, preparing to make her escape as soon as she had done her charitable duty.
‘I want lots of things,’ said the man in his peculiar, lilting voice. ‘But I have everything I need.’
– Alexandra Turney, In Exile
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
March 25, 2019
What would happen if a god graced us with his presence. A god of wine and uninhibited joy, and yet there are also some that say he is also deliberate and vengeful. This is the story of when a girl meets a god and his world of old and her world of new meld into one.
I think it’s important to remember the fact the girls are reading The Bacchae when Grace meets the god and then later introduces him to her friends. In a way the story and their experiences reflect some of the mythology they have read, which could suggest a mass hysteria of young minds, but then who can say whether Greek gods don’t walk the earth and cause chaos all the time.
As far as Grace, Caroline and Sara are aware there are just the three of them, and yet Dionysus now and again lets slip a reference to another person. The four of you and then there’s nine. It made me think of the nine muses of Greek mythology.
Although the story circles around the god and the self discovery of the girls or mainly the inner emotional turmoil of Grace, there are some poignant moments that speak to the majority of teenage girls as they transcend from the innocence of youth to the complex world of raging hormones and sexual desire.
The listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from frenzied excitement or equally a sense of boredom, which crescendos like a volcanic explosion in a shower of impulsive actions and emotions, and is almost synonymous with being young. The author translates those feelings to written word. Not an easy feat at all.
The story between Grace and Caroline in particular speaks to the first experiments of a sexual nature, which statistically happen, for most teenagers, between friends of the same gender. When hormones are mistaken for real emotions, and forbidden lust is equated to love. Tender kisses and fumbling, become eroticised breathless moments to be forgotten as they grow older and discover their sexual identity and experience love and other such things of that nature.
Turney combines mythology, women’s fiction and a coming-of-age story, and presents it in a toned down almost old-fashioned way. On one hand this means anyone can read it, because the lechery, sexual encounters and the moments of pure abandonment are only hinted it. It also means those moments are left free to self interpretation and the imagination of each reader.
It has the charm of an early 20th century upper class story with hints of debauchery, and yet it simultaneously has the devil may care abandoned nature and exploration of a more modern piece of fiction.
*I received a courtesy copy*
I think it’s important to remember the fact the girls are reading The Bacchae when Grace meets the god and then later introduces him to her friends. In a way the story and their experiences reflect some of the mythology they have read, which could suggest a mass hysteria of young minds, but then who can say whether Greek gods don’t walk the earth and cause chaos all the time.
As far as Grace, Caroline and Sara are aware there are just the three of them, and yet Dionysus now and again lets slip a reference to another person. The four of you and then there’s nine. It made me think of the nine muses of Greek mythology.
Although the story circles around the god and the self discovery of the girls or mainly the inner emotional turmoil of Grace, there are some poignant moments that speak to the majority of teenage girls as they transcend from the innocence of youth to the complex world of raging hormones and sexual desire.
The listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from frenzied excitement or equally a sense of boredom, which crescendos like a volcanic explosion in a shower of impulsive actions and emotions, and is almost synonymous with being young. The author translates those feelings to written word. Not an easy feat at all.
The story between Grace and Caroline in particular speaks to the first experiments of a sexual nature, which statistically happen, for most teenagers, between friends of the same gender. When hormones are mistaken for real emotions, and forbidden lust is equated to love. Tender kisses and fumbling, become eroticised breathless moments to be forgotten as they grow older and discover their sexual identity and experience love and other such things of that nature.
Turney combines mythology, women’s fiction and a coming-of-age story, and presents it in a toned down almost old-fashioned way. On one hand this means anyone can read it, because the lechery, sexual encounters and the moments of pure abandonment are only hinted it. It also means those moments are left free to self interpretation and the imagination of each reader.
It has the charm of an early 20th century upper class story with hints of debauchery, and yet it simultaneously has the devil may care abandoned nature and exploration of a more modern piece of fiction.
*I received a courtesy copy*
January 25, 2019
I'm adding this to my "mythology retellings" shelf only because I don't know under which other category I might put this. The cover! And what an amazing idea! Three contemporary teens get involved with the newly awakened god Dionysos, who needs worshippers to sustain his existence - and who better to start a cult than 15-year old Grace, who's just had to read The Bacchae as a summer assignment and is pretty miserable in general?
Disclaimer: This novel is not at all YA, if that's what you think after reading the blurb, but it displays a remarkably realistic respresentation of what a teenage girl's life is like. You'll get more of a psychedelic read from it, as the three friends slip further into madness through their repeated bacchanals, and tensions are steadily growing among them. The clique quickly gets addicted to the god's presence - quite frankly, I read him as an allegory of teen drinking culture. I've also been to Rome and can say that the descriptions of Latium's visuals are on point!
Unfortunately, I was absolutely turned off by the fact that none of the protagonists are Italian, despite the story taking place in contemporary Rome, though not during a clearly discernible decade (for example, the girls won't google things but check the newspaper instead). And I read up on the author, so I know that Grace and her friends being British exapatriates in Rome is a very autobiographical part of the plot, that their condescending attitude towards Italy is surely not a reflection of Turney's opinions. Of course I'm aware that no teenager would be delighted if their parents decided for the whole family to move to a foreign country - in fact, I've been that teenager myself. But such stories just hold no interest for me? I can't connect with this Western take on Greek mythology? I'm sorry.
I would personally be elated if this was a more Mediterranean encounter with the deity, but it sadly isn't. And as I said, this does get increasingly psychedelic and I had no idea where the book would take me - ultimately, it took me to a place of few explanations, but not towards an end I didn't foresee. Still, I would wholeheartedly recommend that lovers and students of Classics read In Exile for its truly frightening version of Dionysus and the plot idea itself.
*I received a digital copy through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
Disclaimer: This novel is not at all YA, if that's what you think after reading the blurb, but it displays a remarkably realistic respresentation of what a teenage girl's life is like. You'll get more of a psychedelic read from it, as the three friends slip further into madness through their repeated bacchanals, and tensions are steadily growing among them. The clique quickly gets addicted to the god's presence - quite frankly, I read him as an allegory of teen drinking culture. I've also been to Rome and can say that the descriptions of Latium's visuals are on point!
Unfortunately, I was absolutely turned off by the fact that none of the protagonists are Italian, despite the story taking place in contemporary Rome, though not during a clearly discernible decade (for example, the girls won't google things but check the newspaper instead). And I read up on the author, so I know that Grace and her friends being British exapatriates in Rome is a very autobiographical part of the plot, that their condescending attitude towards Italy is surely not a reflection of Turney's opinions. Of course I'm aware that no teenager would be delighted if their parents decided for the whole family to move to a foreign country - in fact, I've been that teenager myself. But such stories just hold no interest for me? I can't connect with this Western take on Greek mythology? I'm sorry.
I would personally be elated if this was a more Mediterranean encounter with the deity, but it sadly isn't. And as I said, this does get increasingly psychedelic and I had no idea where the book would take me - ultimately, it took me to a place of few explanations, but not towards an end I didn't foresee. Still, I would wholeheartedly recommend that lovers and students of Classics read In Exile for its truly frightening version of Dionysus and the plot idea itself.
*I received a digital copy through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
January 20, 2019
Summer in Italy can be rather boring when all the friends are on holiday with their families. But Grace’s boredom finds an end when she stumbles across an ancient god, Dionysus. Quite naturally she doesn’t believe his story in the beginning, but slowly recognised who or rather: what he really is. When her friends Caroline and Sara return, she tells them about him and they are eager to meet him, too. So is the ancient god and since he has been longing for nymphs to feed him, the three teenagers are a welcome prey for his doings. Dionysus, not only the god of grapes and wine making, but also the god of ritual madness and religious ecstasy will lead the girls to somewhere they have never been before.
I am torn between finding it wonderful and shaking my head when it comes to Alexandra Turney’s second novel. On the one hand, it is beautifully written and I was captivated from the start, on the other hand, it is all a bit too much and too unrealistic. I was waiting all the time for some kind of revelation that could explain it all. Maybe it is just my being a bit too serious that keeps me from imaging an ancient god being reborn and founding a new kind of cult.
What I found quite realistic, in contrast, was how the three girls are spell-bound by the god and become addicted to his wine. It doesn’t take them too long until their whole thinking only circles around their Friday evening ecstasies. They eagerly sacrifice everything that was important to them before for their new god and the feelings that arouse when being drunk. They aren’t even scared when they realise what they are capable of doing when being drunk.
An extraordinary book that sure captures the spirit and atmosphere of Rome where you sometimes are lead to believe that all is possible and where the long history can carry away your thoughts easily.
I am torn between finding it wonderful and shaking my head when it comes to Alexandra Turney’s second novel. On the one hand, it is beautifully written and I was captivated from the start, on the other hand, it is all a bit too much and too unrealistic. I was waiting all the time for some kind of revelation that could explain it all. Maybe it is just my being a bit too serious that keeps me from imaging an ancient god being reborn and founding a new kind of cult.
What I found quite realistic, in contrast, was how the three girls are spell-bound by the god and become addicted to his wine. It doesn’t take them too long until their whole thinking only circles around their Friday evening ecstasies. They eagerly sacrifice everything that was important to them before for their new god and the feelings that arouse when being drunk. They aren’t even scared when they realise what they are capable of doing when being drunk.
An extraordinary book that sure captures the spirit and atmosphere of Rome where you sometimes are lead to believe that all is possible and where the long history can carry away your thoughts easily.
January 27, 2019
This fascinating novel is hard to pin down but can best be described as magical realism. Reading it I was reminded of the work of Angela Carter.
The exile is that of the ancient pagan gods who are no longer worshiped in modern times. Where do they go? The book begins with Dionysus reappearing in a city which is never named but is clearly Rome, not knowing how or why he is here again. He is discovered by Grace, the main character, a 15 year old teenager who is bored with school and her family life, but is intrigued by the passion and raw intensity of The Bacchae that she is studying at school. Quickly she and her two friends fall under the influence of the god and start to participate in modern day bacchanals with him. The author paints a realistic portrait of teenage alienation, friendship, angst and the desire for more excitement in life. The characters of the girls are well drawn and the descriptions of their relationships ring true. If the encounters with the god seem unreal to some readers they should remember that myths cannot be understood literally and that ancient gods embody aspects of our psyche in the subconscious and collective unconscious. Like dreams and poetry myths have to be understood symbolically, as psychological truths, for them to make any real sense. The theme of alienation, the desire to shed inhibitions and to experience life more intensely is timeless. The bacchanals, which were once very real in ancient Rome, can be understood as a metaphor for teenagers experimenting with drugs and alcohol in modern times. The experience is pleasurable and feels liberating at first but often turns into something very different in the end. The book is very well written and quite gripping in parts, and I found the descriptions of the bacchanals, which become increasingly dark and disturbing, believable and compelling.
Two other aspects of the writing appealed to me - the descriptions of the city itself and its “secret” places such as the view through the keyhole and the room in the villa museum with the frescos. I found the author’s observations quite insightful, for example when Grace realises that nearly all her actions stem from fear, and when she wonders where all the energy of mass unrequited love and hero worship goes.
I think this would be a very interesting novel for a book group to read as there is plenty of meat here for discussion. I look forward to reading more of Turney’s work in the future and would highly recommend this book.
The exile is that of the ancient pagan gods who are no longer worshiped in modern times. Where do they go? The book begins with Dionysus reappearing in a city which is never named but is clearly Rome, not knowing how or why he is here again. He is discovered by Grace, the main character, a 15 year old teenager who is bored with school and her family life, but is intrigued by the passion and raw intensity of The Bacchae that she is studying at school. Quickly she and her two friends fall under the influence of the god and start to participate in modern day bacchanals with him. The author paints a realistic portrait of teenage alienation, friendship, angst and the desire for more excitement in life. The characters of the girls are well drawn and the descriptions of their relationships ring true. If the encounters with the god seem unreal to some readers they should remember that myths cannot be understood literally and that ancient gods embody aspects of our psyche in the subconscious and collective unconscious. Like dreams and poetry myths have to be understood symbolically, as psychological truths, for them to make any real sense. The theme of alienation, the desire to shed inhibitions and to experience life more intensely is timeless. The bacchanals, which were once very real in ancient Rome, can be understood as a metaphor for teenagers experimenting with drugs and alcohol in modern times. The experience is pleasurable and feels liberating at first but often turns into something very different in the end. The book is very well written and quite gripping in parts, and I found the descriptions of the bacchanals, which become increasingly dark and disturbing, believable and compelling.
Two other aspects of the writing appealed to me - the descriptions of the city itself and its “secret” places such as the view through the keyhole and the room in the villa museum with the frescos. I found the author’s observations quite insightful, for example when Grace realises that nearly all her actions stem from fear, and when she wonders where all the energy of mass unrequited love and hero worship goes.
I think this would be a very interesting novel for a book group to read as there is plenty of meat here for discussion. I look forward to reading more of Turney’s work in the future and would highly recommend this book.
March 13, 2019
Slightly unreal and oddly disturbing: this novel plays with the idea of one of the Greek gods waking up in modern day Rome. I'm not sure exactly when it is meant to be set, but the absence of technology and use of vinyl for music suggests the 1960s to me. Grace, Caroline and Sara are bored schoolgirls, looking for something to lighten their boredom: Caroline shoplifts, Sara is religious and Grace doesn't know what she wants until she meets a compelling stranger. The girls have just been studying the Bacchae at school so know a bit about Dionysus and what worship of him entails. When they get the chance to experience it for themselves, they are eager to try and are quickly addicted to the sensations, though increasingly they are unaware of what happens during their bacchanals.
Dionysus himself is dark, brooding and dissatisfied with this new world that does not know him. He needs worshippers and he needs them to lose themselves in their worship. I thought his character could have been developed a bit more - he remained a bit of a mystery though perhaps that's the point: you could never truly know the gods.
The novel alters in pace a bit - as some other reviewers noted, it was slower in the middle, but like the Bacchae, or another Greek tragedy you know all this is leading somewhere and it won't just stop without reaching its inevitable conclusion. That conclusion came a bit late for me and was too vague in its description: I wanted a bit more of the who, what and where to finish it off. Nevertheless, it's a compelling read: something completely different to other dull genre based books on the market. That's the point of this publisher as well: Unbound books are always different and thought-provoking.
Dionysus himself is dark, brooding and dissatisfied with this new world that does not know him. He needs worshippers and he needs them to lose themselves in their worship. I thought his character could have been developed a bit more - he remained a bit of a mystery though perhaps that's the point: you could never truly know the gods.
The novel alters in pace a bit - as some other reviewers noted, it was slower in the middle, but like the Bacchae, or another Greek tragedy you know all this is leading somewhere and it won't just stop without reaching its inevitable conclusion. That conclusion came a bit late for me and was too vague in its description: I wanted a bit more of the who, what and where to finish it off. Nevertheless, it's a compelling read: something completely different to other dull genre based books on the market. That's the point of this publisher as well: Unbound books are always different and thought-provoking.
March 11, 2019
Grace is bored, it’s Summer in Italy and everyone is on holiday….while wandering she comes across a man, he claims to be Dionysus, an ancient god……somehow here in modern day Rome !!
Obviously she doesn’t believe him….that would be madness…. wouldn’t it?
But she soon changes her mind and soon recognises what he is. Her friends Sara and Caroline return from their holidays and she tells them all about Dionysus……and he is now glad to have these ‘nymphs’ to feed him…
Dionysus is the god of grapes and wine, but he is also the god of ritual madness and religious mania and he will lead the three teenagers to something new…….
This is a beautifully written tale by Alexandra Turney, of lost innocence, the building of a religious cult and how easy it is to influence the impressionable young, worse for wear due to wine and a smooth talking, charismatic being……. Just what are they capable of and do they fear the consequences? A scary thought.
A quite extraordinary tale, which brings a bit of ancient mythology to the modern day…..
Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.
Obviously she doesn’t believe him….that would be madness…. wouldn’t it?
But she soon changes her mind and soon recognises what he is. Her friends Sara and Caroline return from their holidays and she tells them all about Dionysus……and he is now glad to have these ‘nymphs’ to feed him…
Dionysus is the god of grapes and wine, but he is also the god of ritual madness and religious mania and he will lead the three teenagers to something new…….
This is a beautifully written tale by Alexandra Turney, of lost innocence, the building of a religious cult and how easy it is to influence the impressionable young, worse for wear due to wine and a smooth talking, charismatic being……. Just what are they capable of and do they fear the consequences? A scary thought.
A quite extraordinary tale, which brings a bit of ancient mythology to the modern day…..
Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.
March 30, 2019
"What are memories? They are only stories we tell ourselves. But when you're with me, you must seize the moment. Let yourself burn. Joy is in living, not remembering"
Its difficult to put into words how I feel about this book. On one hand, the story, at face value, isn't exactly the most thrilling. You've got 3 girls participating in increasingly dangerous bacchanals with the god of wine come back from the dead, where anything that could be considered "interesting" is only vaguely hinted at as the main character Grace doesn't remember what happens afterword. On the other hand, as someone who considers themselves a Dionysus devotee, as someone who often thinks about these kinds of things in an abstract sense - running wild in the woods, drinking and dancing to music that comes from everywhere and nowhere - there was an extra layer to me reading. I related to Grace as a character, in her interactions with the god, in more ways than I can quite put to words. Reading this book was like being in a dream, or like looking at an art piece, in that I can associate it more with certain feelings more than anything else.
That said, it did have a very Bacchae ending, and that might have been the idea, but i really liked it either way.
9/10
Its difficult to put into words how I feel about this book. On one hand, the story, at face value, isn't exactly the most thrilling. You've got 3 girls participating in increasingly dangerous bacchanals with the god of wine come back from the dead, where anything that could be considered "interesting" is only vaguely hinted at as the main character Grace doesn't remember what happens afterword. On the other hand, as someone who considers themselves a Dionysus devotee, as someone who often thinks about these kinds of things in an abstract sense - running wild in the woods, drinking and dancing to music that comes from everywhere and nowhere - there was an extra layer to me reading. I related to Grace as a character, in her interactions with the god, in more ways than I can quite put to words. Reading this book was like being in a dream, or like looking at an art piece, in that I can associate it more with certain feelings more than anything else.
That said, it did have a very Bacchae ending, and that might have been the idea, but i really liked it either way.
9/10
March 23, 2019
‘The Secret History’ is one of my favourite books and I have a deep and abiding love for classical history so this blog tour invite was perfect!
Awoken by teenage Grace, did she call ,unwittingly, to a god to end the ennui of her mundane life or does he arrive,in the world of men at times of change?
The perspective is totally the reader’s,and remains theirs until the very last page-Grace and her friends eagerly embrace all that Dionysus has to offer as they discover their mental and physical coming of age in modern Rome.
At odds with the world and their families, lost to the world they want to feel important in ,they turn to the bacchanals of wine and transportation to a place they never remember and things they cannot recall doing…except before too long,their adulation is no longer enough and Dionysus demands more…
A thrilling debut, a post modern update on the classics as well as a super gripping tale,’In Exile’ has got me yearning to dig out my classical texts!
Awoken by teenage Grace, did she call ,unwittingly, to a god to end the ennui of her mundane life or does he arrive,in the world of men at times of change?
The perspective is totally the reader’s,and remains theirs until the very last page-Grace and her friends eagerly embrace all that Dionysus has to offer as they discover their mental and physical coming of age in modern Rome.
At odds with the world and their families, lost to the world they want to feel important in ,they turn to the bacchanals of wine and transportation to a place they never remember and things they cannot recall doing…except before too long,their adulation is no longer enough and Dionysus demands more…
A thrilling debut, a post modern update on the classics as well as a super gripping tale,’In Exile’ has got me yearning to dig out my classical texts!
April 26, 2019
What if the god Bacchus roamed the streets of modern-day Rome? This is the intriguing premise of In Exile. Bacchus is alive and hoping to continue his immortality by finding some willing worshippers. When broody teenager Grace fatefully runs into him in Rome's Jewish Ghetto neighborhood, her life is forever changed. She convinces her two best friends to join her in her devotion to the mythical god. The three girls become ensnared in weekly Bacchanal celebrations where wine flows freely and dangerous and risque encounters ensue. A great read!
April 20, 2019
Suspended Between Guilty Excitement and Horrified Dread
In Exile by Alexandra Turney is a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat from cover to cover. Suspended between guilty excitement and horrified dread, I giggled and gasped like a teenage kid as Grace, Caroline, and Sarah struggled through the dichotomy of boring high school days and wild bacchanalian nights.
Lacking a cautionary lesson for over-indulgers of forbidden pleasures, In Exile is more of a ghost story than a modern Bacchae. But parents of teenagers could learn a lot from this exciting and enlightening glimpse into the terrifying effect of a man's ulterior motives on the impressionable minds of teenage kids.
From whichever point of view you read In Exile, Alexandra Turney will masterfully manipulate your emotions. This book is very well written, with extraordinary attention given to creating believable characters, realistic dialogues, and divinely surreal events.
In Exile by Alexandra Turney is a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat from cover to cover. Suspended between guilty excitement and horrified dread, I giggled and gasped like a teenage kid as Grace, Caroline, and Sarah struggled through the dichotomy of boring high school days and wild bacchanalian nights.
Lacking a cautionary lesson for over-indulgers of forbidden pleasures, In Exile is more of a ghost story than a modern Bacchae. But parents of teenagers could learn a lot from this exciting and enlightening glimpse into the terrifying effect of a man's ulterior motives on the impressionable minds of teenage kids.
From whichever point of view you read In Exile, Alexandra Turney will masterfully manipulate your emotions. This book is very well written, with extraordinary attention given to creating believable characters, realistic dialogues, and divinely surreal events.
January 28, 2021
Enjoyable read in a beautiful mix of mythology, teenage restlessness and magic. It's a clever idea to reincarnate Dionysus in Rome and make his new followers a group of English and American teenage girls living in Rome. Written exceptionally well, it is an immersive an intriguing read. A great little adventure.
March 12, 2024
If you like books about ancient gods or mythology, and if you like a plot with a twist, 'In Exile' is the book for you! It's also the book for you if, like me, you appreciate well crafted stories, interesting main protagonists, and settings that give you wanderlust (Rome!).
I'm usually quiet suspicious when it comes to books where the main characters are teenagers, because most of the time the authors didn't bother much making them sound and act realistic. With 'In Exile', it's different. Grace and her friends are just like some of the girls I knew when I was a teenager, they do things my friends and I used to do when we were that age (minus the extreme worshipping and the bloodshed, obviously.). They are bored and annoyed with the world, and don't really know what to make of the things that are happening around them.
It's all so very well put into words.
I enjoyed the story immensely. What an amazing, fascinating and entertaining debut!
The author was kind enough to send me a free copy of 'In Exile'.
This review is in no way biased, though.
I'm usually quiet suspicious when it comes to books where the main characters are teenagers, because most of the time the authors didn't bother much making them sound and act realistic. With 'In Exile', it's different. Grace and her friends are just like some of the girls I knew when I was a teenager, they do things my friends and I used to do when we were that age (minus the extreme worshipping and the bloodshed, obviously.). They are bored and annoyed with the world, and don't really know what to make of the things that are happening around them.
It's all so very well put into words.
I enjoyed the story immensely. What an amazing, fascinating and entertaining debut!
The author was kind enough to send me a free copy of 'In Exile'.
This review is in no way biased, though.
September 10, 2020
A fiercely original concept from the pen of a promising new writer. The idea of an ancient god reborn in (almost) modern Rome, stunned to find he is no longer worshiped, is brilliant, tantalizing, and deftly carried out by the author. Turney equally captures the oppressive heat of a Roman summer and the bored apathy of a teenage expat, whose entire life changes when she chances upon a reincarnated Dionysus and decides to become his follower and worshiper--and recruit her friends. If you're looking for something completely different from your typical expat frolic, this is it.
November 23, 2020
This book was absolutely wild. It started off a little slow and i wasn't sure what to expect from it having read the description, but as Grace descends in to chaos the book became more and more intense with each chapter. The characters were relatable and lovable and I'm desperate to know what happens next. Keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel!
October 20, 2020
In Exile is definitely a well-written book that leads you into a magical, mysterious and yet familiar Rome. It allows you to learn about a world - that of ancient divinities and bacchanals - interestingly situated in the context of a story of our days.
March 23, 2021
Rating: 3.5
This was a very delightful read and only took me so long because pandemic brain is real and my concentration was at 0.
I read some of the other reviews for the book and while I agree that it was unfortunate that there were no Italian main characters (or really secondary characters except for Mauro), I also thought it was interesting that this Roman god was interacting with three expat teenage girls when he could have chosen to interact with/make his presence known to any of the Italians wandering around Rome.
Positives:
The writing style is sumptuous. I had so many flooding feelings of being a teenage girl all over again, the pressing feeling of being suffocated and knowing you’re being difficult but also somehow being unable to STOP being difficult.
I truly felt all the seasons that Turney described (and it made me think of Ian McEwan’s Atonement and the descriptions of the stifling summer in the first part) and made me think of the summers and winters I’ve spent in Greece/Sicily/Spain. So well done and not something I think a lot of people tend to appreciate, even though it can be so hard to pull of well!
I loved the sapphic romance that bloomed and the tug-of-war that ensued over what is cheating? What are we? Why are you obsessed? Etc. Ugh yes. Yes!
The slow revealing of what the girls were doing during the Bacchanals was so well done and pulled off almost perfectly. I’m sure some people won’t be fans of the ending but I don’t think there was any other way to end it! It was soooo satisfying and exactly what WOULD happen and so well written, very poetic.
Mixed:
I wanted more from Dionysus. I understood the ongoing exhaustion but I also wanted more...something. As a character he felt very two dimensional and once I got to the ending, I wanted a little more from him to lead up to such a wonderful ending. Which is difficult because the book was simultaneously about and not about him and I think Turney handled that balancing act quite well but I still just wanted something more.
Negatives:
I’m so not a fan of the absent parent tropes. One child with absent parents is one thing but the fact that all three teens had parents who weren’t concerned after months of these teens heading out, showing up exhausted and sleeping the weekend away felt very unbelievable. I almost never buy it in TV shows (Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, I’m looking at you). I understand that uninvolved parents are easier to write around than involved parents, but the fact that Sara’s parents just *let* her stop going to Mass was quite unbelievable as someone who grew up Catholic as they come with parents who used to make me make up missed Masses. I don’t know too many religious families at all, no matter their church or religion, who’d be so blasé about their child just up and deciding to not go to service. I understand the book is not from Sara’s perspective and quite possibly there were more issues we didn’t see but...eh.
Also very interesting that a paid, private school for expat children wouldn’t be more on top of their students’ grades. These parents are paying good money for their children’s education and no way are teachers allowing them to get away with slacking off for a whole academic year.
Overall, I’ve already recommended this book to several other people and definitely recommend it now. It’s fun! It’s spooky! Turney’s love for Romantic poets and Ancient Rome and literature is sprinkled throughout the entire novel and felt like a very safe space for very obsessed readers and learners!
This was a very delightful read and only took me so long because pandemic brain is real and my concentration was at 0.
I read some of the other reviews for the book and while I agree that it was unfortunate that there were no Italian main characters (or really secondary characters except for Mauro), I also thought it was interesting that this Roman god was interacting with three expat teenage girls when he could have chosen to interact with/make his presence known to any of the Italians wandering around Rome.
Positives:
The writing style is sumptuous. I had so many flooding feelings of being a teenage girl all over again, the pressing feeling of being suffocated and knowing you’re being difficult but also somehow being unable to STOP being difficult.
I truly felt all the seasons that Turney described (and it made me think of Ian McEwan’s Atonement and the descriptions of the stifling summer in the first part) and made me think of the summers and winters I’ve spent in Greece/Sicily/Spain. So well done and not something I think a lot of people tend to appreciate, even though it can be so hard to pull of well!
I loved the sapphic romance that bloomed and the tug-of-war that ensued over what is cheating? What are we? Why are you obsessed? Etc. Ugh yes. Yes!
The slow revealing of what the girls were doing during the Bacchanals was so well done and pulled off almost perfectly. I’m sure some people won’t be fans of the ending but I don’t think there was any other way to end it! It was soooo satisfying and exactly what WOULD happen and so well written, very poetic.
Mixed:
I wanted more from Dionysus. I understood the ongoing exhaustion but I also wanted more...something. As a character he felt very two dimensional and once I got to the ending, I wanted a little more from him to lead up to such a wonderful ending. Which is difficult because the book was simultaneously about and not about him and I think Turney handled that balancing act quite well but I still just wanted something more.
Negatives:
I’m so not a fan of the absent parent tropes. One child with absent parents is one thing but the fact that all three teens had parents who weren’t concerned after months of these teens heading out, showing up exhausted and sleeping the weekend away felt very unbelievable. I almost never buy it in TV shows (Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, I’m looking at you). I understand that uninvolved parents are easier to write around than involved parents, but the fact that Sara’s parents just *let* her stop going to Mass was quite unbelievable as someone who grew up Catholic as they come with parents who used to make me make up missed Masses. I don’t know too many religious families at all, no matter their church or religion, who’d be so blasé about their child just up and deciding to not go to service. I understand the book is not from Sara’s perspective and quite possibly there were more issues we didn’t see but...eh.
Also very interesting that a paid, private school for expat children wouldn’t be more on top of their students’ grades. These parents are paying good money for their children’s education and no way are teachers allowing them to get away with slacking off for a whole academic year.
Overall, I’ve already recommended this book to several other people and definitely recommend it now. It’s fun! It’s spooky! Turney’s love for Romantic poets and Ancient Rome and literature is sprinkled throughout the entire novel and felt like a very safe space for very obsessed readers and learners!
May 20, 2019
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I'm clearly in the minority with my rating of this book. The description of it made it seem like it was going to be a great story and I was super excited to read it. Maybe this just wasn't the right time, especially since I had started it in the middle of term at school, but I just didn't find myself getting excited to pick the story up. I usually read this when I had a few minutes free before work or if I had needed a break from schoolwork. However, I just found myself underwhelmed every time I picked it up. There was some character progression with Grace, Sara as well, but I didn't really see much with Caroline. Even with the little character progression we get with the two, they still felt similar to when the book had started out. And I really couldn't have cared less about Dionysus. He was dull, didn't seem to care much about the girls and only cared for himself. He didn't really add much to the story outside of the ritual of the bacchanals.
I'm clearly in the minority with my rating of this book. The description of it made it seem like it was going to be a great story and I was super excited to read it. Maybe this just wasn't the right time, especially since I had started it in the middle of term at school, but I just didn't find myself getting excited to pick the story up. I usually read this when I had a few minutes free before work or if I had needed a break from schoolwork. However, I just found myself underwhelmed every time I picked it up. There was some character progression with Grace, Sara as well, but I didn't really see much with Caroline. Even with the little character progression we get with the two, they still felt similar to when the book had started out. And I really couldn't have cared less about Dionysus. He was dull, didn't seem to care much about the girls and only cared for himself. He didn't really add much to the story outside of the ritual of the bacchanals.
March 31, 2019
An interesting series of events that doesn't end the way you might expect.
October 23, 2019
Read my other book reviews at booksibled.wordpress.com
I was set onto the trail of this book by my friend Anwen, (Who’s book "Here the World Entire" I reviewed a while back and I still feel the same way so go and buy it https://booksibled.wordpress.com/2017...) and when it arrived I hurried through the rest of The Night Manager to finally dive headlong in.
In Exile features so many of my favourite things, magic, realism, myths, literature and teenage girls slowly making more and more terrible choices as they go mad with power and realise they are strong enough to tear their enemies apart with their bare hands…what.
The book was partially funded by patrons invested in Turney’s work and one of these was my friend, hence it coming into my life. I wish I had seen it earlier as I would have happily thrown money at it but I’m just glad it made it’s target because there can never be enough good myth based story writing for my taste and, best of all, the god this brilliant book focuses on is one of my favourites, Dionysus.
Dionysus (also sometimes known as Bacchus) was god of wine making, grape cultivation, theatre, fertility and, my personal favourite, ritual madness (because everything’s going right if your services are sending people into mad frenzies). He’s normally depicted as young with ivy and grapes draped around him and sometimes he drives around on a chariot pulled by panthers. Dreamy. Many of the stories featuring Dionysus feature his following of women, wild from drunkenness (both from wine and religious ecstasy) and sometimes attacking men who try to interfere.
Only in Turney’s novel Dionysus has been reborn in the 20th Century, in a time and place where few people still know him, let alone worship him and so he is morose and weak when fifteen year old Grace stumbles upon him and is drawn back, time and time again, to talk with him and witness the miracles he can perform. Eventually she introduces him to her friends (at his behest) and they become his new followers, taking part in secret rituals on Friday evenings while their parents think they are sleeping over at each other’s houses. Their real lives begin to suffer for their evening trips and they begin to descend to a place of dizzying madness while drunk on wine provided by the god.
Dionysus grows stronger as he feeds off their worship and he incites more violence and more proof of their love for him in the most carnal ways they can. Climaxing in a wild night of madness and passion to end it all.
P.S. A book that felt more like a dream made solid. A god dropped in a time that is so far from his own and yet so similar and the havoc he wreaks but also an exploration of the strengths and fragility of the teenage girls and their control of their underlying desires.
I was set onto the trail of this book by my friend Anwen, (Who’s book "Here the World Entire" I reviewed a while back and I still feel the same way so go and buy it https://booksibled.wordpress.com/2017...) and when it arrived I hurried through the rest of The Night Manager to finally dive headlong in.
In Exile features so many of my favourite things, magic, realism, myths, literature and teenage girls slowly making more and more terrible choices as they go mad with power and realise they are strong enough to tear their enemies apart with their bare hands…what.
The book was partially funded by patrons invested in Turney’s work and one of these was my friend, hence it coming into my life. I wish I had seen it earlier as I would have happily thrown money at it but I’m just glad it made it’s target because there can never be enough good myth based story writing for my taste and, best of all, the god this brilliant book focuses on is one of my favourites, Dionysus.
Dionysus (also sometimes known as Bacchus) was god of wine making, grape cultivation, theatre, fertility and, my personal favourite, ritual madness (because everything’s going right if your services are sending people into mad frenzies). He’s normally depicted as young with ivy and grapes draped around him and sometimes he drives around on a chariot pulled by panthers. Dreamy. Many of the stories featuring Dionysus feature his following of women, wild from drunkenness (both from wine and religious ecstasy) and sometimes attacking men who try to interfere.
Only in Turney’s novel Dionysus has been reborn in the 20th Century, in a time and place where few people still know him, let alone worship him and so he is morose and weak when fifteen year old Grace stumbles upon him and is drawn back, time and time again, to talk with him and witness the miracles he can perform. Eventually she introduces him to her friends (at his behest) and they become his new followers, taking part in secret rituals on Friday evenings while their parents think they are sleeping over at each other’s houses. Their real lives begin to suffer for their evening trips and they begin to descend to a place of dizzying madness while drunk on wine provided by the god.
Dionysus grows stronger as he feeds off their worship and he incites more violence and more proof of their love for him in the most carnal ways they can. Climaxing in a wild night of madness and passion to end it all.
P.S. A book that felt more like a dream made solid. A god dropped in a time that is so far from his own and yet so similar and the havoc he wreaks but also an exploration of the strengths and fragility of the teenage girls and their control of their underlying desires.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews