The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

by Andrew Joseph White Narrated by Raphael Corkhill

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Gothic horror meets historical fiction in The Spirit Bears Its Teeth, a profound and unflinching tale shining a light on the often overlooked experience of transgender and autistic people throughout history.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare.

New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time!

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness-a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness-and shipped away to Braxton's Finishing School and Sanitorium. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton's innards and expose its guts to the world-so long as the school doesn't break him first.

Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White's much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

★ "Redefines the concept of a ‘visceral’ book. . . . parallels to the dangerous pressure to conform (especially for trans or autistic teens) and the importance of being seen and understood are masterfully shown. . . . readers, take care."—Booklist, Starred Review

★ "White wields prose like a scalpel, cutting deep and spilling guts with gruesome precision. . . . Visceral and vindicating."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ "Via precise, intentional prose, White (Hell Followed with Us) crafts an unsettlingly horrific tale that boasts a rich and fully realized world, propelled by a champion of a protagonist whose determination to fight for his right to survive is both uplifting and empowering."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
 
★ "White brings such raw agony, power, and desperation to his complex and layered characters that it is impossible to not feel immediately sympathetic and deeply invested in their survival."—The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books, Starred Review

★ "[A] riveting, spellbinding Victorian horror about a neurodivergent trans boy desperate to escape the life his family has planned for him. . . . White shows in this sharp, tense novel the same kind of visceral prose that garnered such acclaim for his debut, Hell Followed with Us."—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

"Readers’ sympathies are fully engaged. Secondary characters are rounded as well, creating intriguing dynamics."—The Horn Book

"This novel provides a valuable lens into the historical perspective of trans identity."—School Library Journal
 
"Following on the heels of his game-changing debut, Andrew Joseph White returns with a biting and brilliant gothic horror that captivates from the first sentence… Poised to become another classic of the genre." —Kay Frost, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA

"A tender, bleeding wound of a story. Andrew Joseph White has ruthlessly sliced through the facade of our society, and invites readers to plunge their bare hands into the grisly and alluring darkness within." —Bri Evans, West Side Books, Denver, CO

“No one can write quite so viscerally beautiful as Andrew Joseph White, and The Spirit Bares Its Teethtwists and writhes into your heart from page one.”—Minna Banawan, Park Road Books, Charlotte, NC

“A fierce, gory, subversive, and timely probe into Victorian society that celebrates trans and queer resilience. This is a scalpel to the eyes and heart only Andrew Joseph White can deliver.”—Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books, Beverly, MA

“Andrew Joseph White continues to break boundaries into new, deeply chilling forms. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a merciless yet masterful dissection of gothic horror that spares no anesthesia, and thankfully so. The hauntings in these pages will find their way into you, so deep that nothing will be able to cut them out.”  —Ryan La Sala, bestselling author of The Honeys and Beholder
 
“With surgical precision, The Spirit Bares its Teeth exposes the menace of conformity in society. I devoured every vicious and human sentence. Let Silas Bell tear you apart, then stitch you back together.” —Trang Thanh Tran, New York Times bestselling author of She is a Haunting
 
“An absolute sucker punch of a novel. While the gore and body horror are exactly as brutal and artful as you’d expect from Andrew Joseph White, there’s an undercurrent of validating tenderness that makes this story wholly unique. This book will slice you open, shift through your insides, and stitch you closed anew.” —Kayla Cottingham, New York Times bestselling author of My Dearest Darkest
 
“A book that cracks and spreads the ribs before massaging your heart underneath, this is a must-read that will haunt you long after it's over, proving that Andrew Joseph White is the reigning king, draping visceral horror in a feral kind of hope.” —Jamison Shea, author of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me

“Andrew Joseph White brings his phenomenal talent and searing prose to an unflinching tale of a violet-eyed boy, desperate spirits, and very human monsters. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is as brutal and necessary as a surgical incision.” —Kate Alice Marshall, author of Rules for Vanishing and What Lies in the Woods

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2023-06-21
One by one, the students of Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium for Veil-sick girls disappear, but their spirits remain, trapped and screaming—“HELP US.”

To escape a future of marriage and childbirth, 16-year-old transgender boy Silas needs a medium’s seal from the Royal Speaker Society, a mark granted exclusively to men ever since the Speaker Act of 1841 prohibited women from practicing spirit-work. With a seal as proof of his manhood, Silas can go wherever he wants, including medical school. When Silas is exposed after using a stolen identity to obtain a seal, he expects to hang for his crime. Instead, he’s forced into an engagement and attendance at Braxton’s, an institution that claims to cure girls afflicted with Veil sickness, “a sickness of the mind” said to afflict women who engage in spirit-work. Soon after his arrival, Silas learns that not only are the students subjected to abusive treatment, the ones who resist have been vanishing without a trace. Set in Victorian England, this paranormal alternate history follows an autistic protagonist in vivid first-person prose as he unravels the haunting secret of the missing students with the help of an unexpected partner who feels just as trapped as Silas does by societal rules. Flutters of romance and feelings of kinship offer moments of reprieve from the unflinching brutality of Silas’ reality. White wields prose like a scalpel, cutting deep and spilling guts with gruesome precision. The cast of characters is white.

Visceral and vindicating. (historical note) (Horror. 14-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178282472
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/05/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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