Private Rites
A Novel

Quotes

A Most Anticipated Book (Goodreads, LitHub, BookRiot, Bookish)

“Inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear, this characteristically eerie and emotive novel explores faith, legacy, and grief for loved ones and for the world as we know it.”
—GQ

“[Armfield] is both poet and prophet of the watery and the queer and the channels connecting them…Seductive…Compelling…Brilliantly audacious.”
—The Guardian

“As an Our Wives Under the Sea evangelist, I was absolutely foaming at the mouth for Private Rites...It’s gay and eerie and vibey and weird...Drink it up, baby!”
—LitHub

“Honestly this new book might be even better than [Armfield’s] last. Private Rites is a haunting and evocative exploration of human connection and the supernatural, showcasing the same lyrical prowess and keen insight into the human condition her readers adore…Her characters navigate love and loss with a razor sharp wit. The emotional depth and unique storytelling ensures Armfield's reputation as a distinctive voice in contemporary fiction…A must-read for fans of her hauntingly beautiful prose.”
—Glamour

“[Armfield] depicts the eerily normalized terrors of environmental catastrophe within a world that refuses to confront it its impending demise with an unsettling lyrical beauty…Armfield lends a quasi-mythic dimension to an intimate story of sibling rivalry and familial disinheritance, set to a thudding backdrop of ceaseless rain that by the novel’s end had begun to infect my dreams.”
—Daily Mail

“An atmospheric meditation on sisterhood and loss at the end of the world… Private Rites is a testament to the light that can be found in each other, even in the darkest of times.”
—Shelf Awareness

“Absorbing…Armfield succeeds at conjuring her characters’ existential fears. This well-wrought family drama is tough to shake.”
—Publishers Weekly

"The skillfully written familial dynamics and the success of Armfield’s previous novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, make this an easy purchase recommendation for most libraries."
—Library Journal

“Slick and slippery, Julia Armfield's latest novel is the author at her finest. Private Rites is committed to plumbing the depths of what might be unknowable: the monstrous, inexorable thrust of climate change and the delicate, dangerous tangle of family and sisterhood. Armfield writes the kind of books that stick with you for life. I am proud to be one of her biggest fans.”
—Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of With Teeth

"Another stunning work by Armfield, a gorgeous hybrid of the gothic, deep character studies, and a half-drowned landscape. The writing is so sharp and distinctive it'll make you gasp. A page-turner that makes you slow down to appreciate the brilliance of the prose. One of my favorite novels of the past few years."
—Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation

“Private Rites has the elemental power of a thunderstorm and the thrilling emotional honesty of a first kiss. Julia Armfield is an era-defining writer.”
—Kaliane Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of The Ministry of Time

“Private Rites is lyrical, haunting, unsettling, and J.G. Ballard-ian in apocalyptic scope. What makes the novel soar even as its world drowns are the sisters—Iris, Irene, and Agnes—who are deeply, passionately, messily human.”
—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts

“It's a book of extraordinary sentences, set in end-times which feel bleakly real yet pulse with a tireless, tangible force of love.”
—Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From

“The rainsoaked world of Privates Rites is one you'll want to linger in: despite the creeping sense of dread, the characters and relationships Armfield has created are totally compelling. An astonishing ambitious novel that won't let you go.”
—Sarvat Hasin, author of The Giant Dark

“Delivered with Armfield’s signature cocktail of deadpan wit and staggering beauty, Private Rites is a sharply observed exploration of grief, family and the end of the world as we know it.”
—Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller