Katharine Beutner

Killingly

Shivam

** spoiler alert **
           10

Killingly is a triumphant display of what a capable writer can achieve from the deep well of inspiration offered by the past. Conjured out of ancient manuscripts, the book makes fantastic use of its nineteenth-century setting to provide an intriguing but harrowing look at gender roles of the time. 

The characters show a fluidity, not predictable or unpredictable, but humane. Bertha is remembered by those who loved her and those who could just observe her as an uncaring figure. In the final few pages however, the readers are given a glimpse into the psyche of a Bertha who's broken by the knowledge of her parentage and her inevitable tragic fate. In many ways, she is similar to one of my favorite characters in fiction, Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks, absent from the central narrative but it's the very absence that casts a shadow over all of it and drives things forward.

Next thing that deserves complimenting is the style, particularly the ending. Beutner keeps not one, not two, not three but four pieces of writing to conclude the book with in the best way possible. It peels back the layers on the few elements you would have thought to remain hidden, humanizing these characters further, making the tragedy even deeper.

Leah Preston

Based on the unsolved real-life disappearance of a Mount Holyoke student in 1897—a haunting novel of intrigue, longing, and terror, perfect for fans of Donna Tartt and Sarah Waters Bertha Mellish, “the most peculiar, quiet, reserved girl” at Mount Holyoke College, is missing. One cold November morning the junior is spotted walking through the Massachusetts woods; then, she vanishes. As a search team dredges the pond where she might have drowned, Bertha’s panicked father and sister arrive at the campus desperate to find some clue as to her fate or state of mind. Bertha’s best friend, Agnes, a scholarly loner studying medicine, might know the truth, but she is being unhelpfully tightlipped, inciting the suspicions of Bertha’s family, her classmates, and the private investigator hired by the Mellish family doctor. As secrets from Agnes and Bertha’s lives come to light, so do the competing agendas driving each person who is searching for Bertha. Where did Bertha go? Who would want to hurt her? And could she still be alive? Edmund White Award-winning author Katharine Beutner crafts a real-life unsolved mystery into an immersive, unforgettable work of literary crime fiction—a beautifully drawn historical portrait of queerness, family trauma, and the risks faced by women who dared to pursue unconventional paths at the end of the 19th century.

Killingly

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