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Edendale
In northeast Los Angeles, wildfires rage and coyotes stalk the neighborhood streets. The wind blows heavy with smoke and, inside a rented bungalow on hilly Lemoyne Street, the air grows heavy with something else.
Ropey closes his checking account and transfers his net worth to his sock drawer. Megan sharpens pencils and chops produce to obsession. Lyle tightens his grip on his girlfriend Egypt, whose growing dependence makes her question everything, especially Lyle. And Captain America, the cat of the house, finds his orange coat giving way to a nest of bleeding sores. As the fires burn ever closer, will the four friends wake up to their false paradise?
Jacquelyn Stolos’ eco-horror debut explores the ways rape culture can permeate relationships of all kinds, making us examine our agency in our own lives and the world at large.
Ropey closes his checking account and transfers his net worth to his sock drawer. Megan sharpens pencils and chops produce to obsession. Lyle tightens his grip on his girlfriend Egypt, whose growing dependence makes her question everything, especially Lyle. And Captain America, the cat of the house, finds his orange coat giving way to a nest of bleeding sores. As the fires burn ever closer, will the four friends wake up to their false paradise?
Jacquelyn Stolos’ eco-horror debut explores the ways rape culture can permeate relationships of all kinds, making us examine our agency in our own lives and the world at large.
256 pages, Paperback
Published October 20, 2020
6 people are currently reading
650 people want to read
About the author
Jacquelyn Stolos
2 books16 followersJacquelyn Stolos is a writer living and teaching in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in fiction from New York University where she was a Writers in the Public Schools Fellow. Jacquelyn has won fellowships to attend the New York State Summer Writers Institute and the Community of Writers. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Bodega Magazine, No Tokens, Joyland and more. She is the co-founder of LA's Something Something reading series. Edendale, her first novel, was named a literary finalist in the 2020 Forward INDIES Book of the Year Awards. Asterwood, her debut children's novel, is forthcoming from Delacorte Press in December 2025.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 10, 2024
Four roommates try to carry on with their lives in their building amidst the Southern California wildfires. The action seems to center around Egypt, an aspiring actress who seems to be languishing. She experiences an odd, semi-violent encounter with a disturbed person in town. Lyle, an aspiring talent agent and her boyf, is madly in love with her and tries to help her. Ropey has a wild love life and a job at a local restaurant that’s losing business to the fires. Megan, a teacher, attempts to hold them all together.
It begins very much in medias res: right when Egypt is attacked by that random stranger. It’s clear she has some mental health issues of her own, and that seems to be a focus of the story. The wildfires seem to be the plot: though none of the characters has a clear direction, mostly everything they do has to do with escaping the danger and avoiding the smoke.
A neat trick from Stolos is that despite the loose plot, the drama builds steadily. Egypt is a drama all by herself, and whenever she does something dangerous or self-destructive, it creates ripples among the friends. The other argue about her wild behavior, and Lyle falls deeper in love with her. Even Captain America (the cat) gets sick and in trouble, and I felt the tension. That said, there’s a crescendo I wasn’t expecting, and I was on the edge!
The language is simple and direct. I had flashes of Ernest Hemingway: things happening to young people in a tense situation, told in a modest style. That got me to focus on the characters, and Stolos knows how to write a character-driven novel. They were vibrant, flawed and interesting. Including the cat.
It does get a little graphic: a little blood, and animal violence. It’s part of the story, and not gratuitous. It’s a drama, so it has a purpose and it pushes the action. She raised my emotion in these spots, so it works.
This was recommended by a friend, and I’ve heard the author has a deal for this to be published in the UK. Congrats to her! Go check it out!
It begins very much in medias res: right when Egypt is attacked by that random stranger. It’s clear she has some mental health issues of her own, and that seems to be a focus of the story. The wildfires seem to be the plot: though none of the characters has a clear direction, mostly everything they do has to do with escaping the danger and avoiding the smoke.
A neat trick from Stolos is that despite the loose plot, the drama builds steadily. Egypt is a drama all by herself, and whenever she does something dangerous or self-destructive, it creates ripples among the friends. The other argue about her wild behavior, and Lyle falls deeper in love with her. Even Captain America (the cat) gets sick and in trouble, and I felt the tension. That said, there’s a crescendo I wasn’t expecting, and I was on the edge!
The language is simple and direct. I had flashes of Ernest Hemingway: things happening to young people in a tense situation, told in a modest style. That got me to focus on the characters, and Stolos knows how to write a character-driven novel. They were vibrant, flawed and interesting. Including the cat.
It does get a little graphic: a little blood, and animal violence. It’s part of the story, and not gratuitous. It’s a drama, so it has a purpose and it pushes the action. She raised my emotion in these spots, so it works.
This was recommended by a friend, and I’ve heard the author has a deal for this to be published in the UK. Congrats to her! Go check it out!
March 21, 2024
3.5 rounded down. I kind of liked this book, but I also kind of hated it. First, I don't know why it's described as an eco-horror. It's not a horror at all and the wildfires play a very small roll in the actual plot, they're more of a background element that creates a small amount of anxiety throughout the novel. I also feel like calling this novel an exploration of rape culture is not completely correct, as that topic does not come up until the last few chapters of the book. Also, the characters were absolutely detestable, except for Megan, who just gets treated like shit by her roommates from the begining to the end of the book. And I'm not even gonna get into the subplot about the pet cat. Anyway, this novel did have some interesting things to say about capitalism, climate change, sexism, and rape culture, but it was unfortunate that none of these ideas came to fruition until the end of the book.
November 29, 2024
Self-indulgent, boring nothingness. There’s no plot, the tone is consistently flat, and the characters so dull and/or unlikeable. The most interesting part was when the cat went missing and even that felt like a rip-off of Miranda July.
August 21, 2024
Next to no plot, all vibes. Very compulsive. Even though the characters weren’t particularly likeable they felt very realistic.
June 6, 2022
This makes you feel the lazy, crackling heat of fires and Los Angeles and desert, and the book feels like one long, lackadaisical horror-spiral around and around a drain of mental illness, bleak- and bleariness, and tension that keeps you reading for the inevitable car crash of an ending. Not a bang, but a slow bonfire burning in the dark. These are people you know, that you're friends with, in your family, but also like you're seeing them through a hazy screen, the smoke of their problems and foibles and imperfect personalities.
This was so well-written and pulled so damn tight, instrument strings, low horrible creeping notes. It's a short read but grips you and doesn't let go. I recommend it. Stellar!
This was so well-written and pulled so damn tight, instrument strings, low horrible creeping notes. It's a short read but grips you and doesn't let go. I recommend it. Stellar!
January 15, 2022
This was haunting and tough to put down. Really effective at exploring the complexity of young adult relationships through beautiful writing.
July 10, 2022
3.5
Ooof a slow burn of a book. Late stage capitalism, apathy, patriarchy, internalized sexism, seeking control in an uncontrollable world, climate change.
Justice for captain America
Ooof a slow burn of a book. Late stage capitalism, apathy, patriarchy, internalized sexism, seeking control in an uncontrollable world, climate change.
Justice for captain America
December 18, 2024
Justice for Captain America
January 30, 2025
Not really horror, unless you consider the current state we're in to be constant horror which, in which case, fair. This book was basically just all vibes, most of them bad. Not a lot happens here, but it really does give the sense of things falling apart in a way that can't be stopped. One of the characters was OK; the rest varied from not great to pretty awful. Some bad things happen to a pet which was hard to read. Overall, I think Jacquelyn Stolos is a good writer with some interesting ideas but consolidating all of this into a loose novel just didn't quite work for me? I think a book of short stories involving the same group of characters may have been more interesting.
December 10, 2023
Wowowowow. What a slow burn, literally. Four young twenty somethings grasping at a mirage of hospitable life in LA. What comes next is a slow descent into depraved insecurity and self-serving actions fueled by the steady and inevitable death march of late-stage capitalism and climate change. Couldn’t put it down. This is my first and certainly not my last foray into feminist horror. Also shout out Creature publishing who I briefly chatted with on the ground at a local farmers market. Will definitely be investing more into indie publishing!!
June 17, 2021
A slow burn exploration of trauma to women and how we digest it in different ways. A startlingly realistic characterization span that will get under your nerves. And we always need more books that depict the darker tides of life in LA. Can't wait to read what Jacquelyn writes next.
February 24, 2021
This novel was very well crafted and polished; as a debut offering I was duly impressed. I thought the juxtaposition of the wildfires encroaching on Los Angeles with the slow deterioration of the roommates' relationships with each other was artful and clever. I pitied the demise of poor Captain America - which was yet another symbol of the downward spiral of the inhabitants of the house on Lemoyne. I also admired the author's ability to expose the personality of each character with a minimum of description.
Notwithstanding the excellent writing, I have to say that I was peeved and irritated with both Egypt and Lyle. Perhaps this is the expected reaction. I can't tell you how many times that I literally wanted to reach into the pages and either shake sense into Egypt ("quit your whining and get another job already!") or whisk her away to a psychiatrist. Same reaction for Lyle - as in, "How can you put up with such a selfish person?" to "certainly he has a mental impediment". I was more sympathetic towards Megan and Ropey.
All in all, a quick clever read and a great debut offering.
Notwithstanding the excellent writing, I have to say that I was peeved and irritated with both Egypt and Lyle. Perhaps this is the expected reaction. I can't tell you how many times that I literally wanted to reach into the pages and either shake sense into Egypt ("quit your whining and get another job already!") or whisk her away to a psychiatrist. Same reaction for Lyle - as in, "How can you put up with such a selfish person?" to "certainly he has a mental impediment". I was more sympathetic towards Megan and Ropey.
All in all, a quick clever read and a great debut offering.
October 11, 2020
What a beautiful, complex book. It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel.
On it’s face, it’s about a group of 20-somethings trying to figure out adulthood, relationships, and life in LA, and it is as smart, authentic, and funny as anything in that genre. But the whole story is also permeated by a tension (represented most literally by the looming threat of the fires, just over the hills) that gives it the suspense of a good horror movie and makes it next to impossible to put down.
It’s also just very well-written - clever and subtle, thoughtfully paced, and always with just the right little detail to conjure a picture or make you smile.
On it’s face, it’s about a group of 20-somethings trying to figure out adulthood, relationships, and life in LA, and it is as smart, authentic, and funny as anything in that genre. But the whole story is also permeated by a tension (represented most literally by the looming threat of the fires, just over the hills) that gives it the suspense of a good horror movie and makes it next to impossible to put down.
It’s also just very well-written - clever and subtle, thoughtfully paced, and always with just the right little detail to conjure a picture or make you smile.
August 17, 2021
3.5
I really liked the writing and the atmosphere of this book. Because it's published on creature publishing, I expected it to be horror when it's actually 'eco-horror' about wild fires and coyotes and climate change. Slightly bleak with depressed characters and a poorly cat, I found this a really interesting rather than enjoyable read.
I really liked the writing and the atmosphere of this book. Because it's published on creature publishing, I expected it to be horror when it's actually 'eco-horror' about wild fires and coyotes and climate change. Slightly bleak with depressed characters and a poorly cat, I found this a really interesting rather than enjoyable read.
December 31, 2020
Characters were so vivid and interesting thar I stopped caring about the minimalist plot. It made me think of an old Joan Didion essay about the Santa Ana winds, fully realized in the claustrophobic, little house.
March 27, 2021
Excellent book that drew me in. This is not a genre of books that I normally gravitate towards and I was still hooked.
Hoping the author publishes more!
Hoping the author publishes more!
September 27, 2024
🚨 Sad girl lit-fic alert 🚨
Edendale is a no-plot-just-vibes novel of the relationship between 4 characters who live together, in a world that is burning. Yeah, literally burning. I wouldn’t quite classify Edendale as dystopian, but there’s an eerie foreboding feel throughout the whole thing. It feels closed in, claustrophobic and like at any point the pressure is going to become too much for our characters who are so close, yet so different to one another.
I wasn’t sure how to take this book at first, given the characters are quite unlikeable and I do struggle with that sometimes, however we get to know their personality and the way they feel so deeply that towards the end I actually came to accept them for their imperfectness.
If you’re into sad-girl, melancholic gloomy stories with a slightly end of the world feel: you’ll get along with Edendale for sure.
I do personally prefer a little bit more plot, but I did fly through this one given the chapters are short and captivating. Also, I could’ve taken a bit more of the dystopian weirdness too to rank this book a little higher. Saying that, I think so many people will love this. Thanks to @deadinkbooks for sending it over! 3.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 rounded down
Edendale is a no-plot-just-vibes novel of the relationship between 4 characters who live together, in a world that is burning. Yeah, literally burning. I wouldn’t quite classify Edendale as dystopian, but there’s an eerie foreboding feel throughout the whole thing. It feels closed in, claustrophobic and like at any point the pressure is going to become too much for our characters who are so close, yet so different to one another.
I wasn’t sure how to take this book at first, given the characters are quite unlikeable and I do struggle with that sometimes, however we get to know their personality and the way they feel so deeply that towards the end I actually came to accept them for their imperfectness.
If you’re into sad-girl, melancholic gloomy stories with a slightly end of the world feel: you’ll get along with Edendale for sure.
I do personally prefer a little bit more plot, but I did fly through this one given the chapters are short and captivating. Also, I could’ve taken a bit more of the dystopian weirdness too to rank this book a little higher. Saying that, I think so many people will love this. Thanks to @deadinkbooks for sending it over! 3.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 rounded down
September 29, 2023
Disturbing, eccentric, and incredibly well-written. This book could fall under a new genre fit for our time: climate crisis literary fiction. It was a powerful meditation on the climate crisis, set in the backdrop of Los Angeles during its wildfire season.
I loved the characterization of the four roommates, especially Egypt. She was so blithely chaotic. My favorite quote - “You’re not doing it right, she’d say eventually, a ghost stepping out from the crowd. Your grief doesn’t match my fantasy” (190).
Megan’s anxiety about the overwhelming amount of calamities in the world were too relatable… this how I feel so often, “She thought of her students, her roommates, their orange tabby cat. All the vulnerable creatures of the world who needed her attention. It made her want to lie down on the asphalt and weep. She felt she could not do enough. As soon as she got one sector of her world figured out, another collapsed. She didn't have enough good in her to be good to everyone. There was never enough time, never enough energy in her hard, imperfect body to do all she wanted for everyone who needed it” (193).
I loved the characterization of the four roommates, especially Egypt. She was so blithely chaotic. My favorite quote - “You’re not doing it right, she’d say eventually, a ghost stepping out from the crowd. Your grief doesn’t match my fantasy” (190).
Megan’s anxiety about the overwhelming amount of calamities in the world were too relatable… this how I feel so often, “She thought of her students, her roommates, their orange tabby cat. All the vulnerable creatures of the world who needed her attention. It made her want to lie down on the asphalt and weep. She felt she could not do enough. As soon as she got one sector of her world figured out, another collapsed. She didn't have enough good in her to be good to everyone. There was never enough time, never enough energy in her hard, imperfect body to do all she wanted for everyone who needed it” (193).
February 2, 2025
This was such a different read for me. It was filled with tension and while it felt like not much was happening, I could not put the book down. The best way I can think to describe it is that it was very ‘readable’. There were lots of dark themes that kept building throughout.
Climate change is ever present in the novel and it really delved into how things become normal to us a lot sooner than we expect them to. The fires, while disruptive, do not seem out of place to the characters most of the time. The book was very character driven and we get to see how these characters deal with their ‘new normal’. Megan is controlling, Egypt self sabotages, Lyle pretends that everything is normal, and Ropey seems to understand the situation but is very apathetic.
There were many interesting concepts in the book, however I did want more. A lot of the themes felt under-developed to me and I think they could have been explored further. I did still enjoy the book over all and would love to read more from this author.
Thank you @deadinkbooks for kindly gifting me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Climate change is ever present in the novel and it really delved into how things become normal to us a lot sooner than we expect them to. The fires, while disruptive, do not seem out of place to the characters most of the time. The book was very character driven and we get to see how these characters deal with their ‘new normal’. Megan is controlling, Egypt self sabotages, Lyle pretends that everything is normal, and Ropey seems to understand the situation but is very apathetic.
There were many interesting concepts in the book, however I did want more. A lot of the themes felt under-developed to me and I think they could have been explored further. I did still enjoy the book over all and would love to read more from this author.
Thank you @deadinkbooks for kindly gifting me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 4, 2026
I loved this book. The choppy, fragmented chapters matching the fragmented, messy and complex characters of Egypt, Lyle, Ropey, Meg and CA. The mixture of heat, fire, environment intercepting the mixture of emotions within the group worked wonderfully. All colliding into a powerful but upsetting finale and climax, and how we all at the end want to be a woman that fills space unashamedly, independently and completely. Fantastic. My only fault was that it could have had more eco criticism and less character drama in places.
February 11, 2025
Set in los angeles during the peak of wildfires, this book fleshed out the dailyy lives of four very interesting and complex roommates and their cat, Captain America.
That was an amazing read. I always thought that character focused fiction was not something I could enjoy, but this book proved me wrong. The writing style was so fluid and raw, perfectly complimenting the characters and their complicated dynamics. Loved it!
That was an amazing read. I always thought that character focused fiction was not something I could enjoy, but this book proved me wrong. The writing style was so fluid and raw, perfectly complimenting the characters and their complicated dynamics. Loved it!
September 10, 2025
I must have missed something because not only was this book messy, senseless and the characters (except Megan) completely unlikeable, boring and annoying, but the ending was bafflingly stupid.
This isn't an eco-horror nor does it "explores the ways rape culture can permeate relationships of all kinds" - it's just a bunch of people being frustratingly boring, careless and annoying.
This isn't an eco-horror nor does it "explores the ways rape culture can permeate relationships of all kinds" - it's just a bunch of people being frustratingly boring, careless and annoying.
March 28, 2021
It was hard to put this book down. The author portrays vivid characters, who engage with themes and issues with which American society is wrestling--climate change, misogyny, patriarchal society, modern malaise. Looking forward to more works from Ms. Stolos!
September 16, 2021
As someone who spent most of my 20's in California (during lots of wildfires, no less), I can't exactly call this a *pleasurable* read, but the fact that it hits so uncomfortably close to home speaks to how impeccably she captured the characters, the sense of place, the zeitgeist of California.
November 25, 2024
Actually a 3.5. Hmm, is the main way I would describe this book, don’t think I’ve fully made my mind up yet. Easy to read, but feel like nothing much happened, and then everything happened in about 25 pages
May 28, 2025
definitely not an "eco-horror". the wildfires play a very small role in the plot but the tension of these young characters is what saves the book for me and how complicated their futures feel to them while their world around them is burning.
October 30, 2020
Beautifully written story that somehow manages to create such a strong gut feeling from page to page. Highly recommend!
November 9, 2020
A beautifully written book. It sucked me in, I read it cover to cover in one sitting.
March 12, 2021
Taut and disturbing. Friends meets the Raymond Carver of Robert Altman's Short Cuts.
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May 23, 2021Ms Stolos is a creative and very gifted writer. I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews