The Unsuitable, Molly Pohlig
The Unsuitable, Molly Pohlig
1 Rating(s)
List: $35.99 | Sale: $25.20
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The Unsuitable

Author: Molly Pohlig

Narrator: Esther Wane

Unabridged: 7 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/14/2020


Synopsis

Molly Pohlig's The Unsuitable is a fierce blend of Gothic ghost story and Victorian novel of manners that’s also pitch perfect for our current cultural moment.Iseult Wince is a Victorian woman perilously close to spinsterhood whose distinctly unpleasant father is trying to marry her off. She is awkward, plain, and most pertinently, believes that her mother, who died in childbirth, lives in the scar on her neck. Iseult’s father parades a host of unsuitable candidates before her, the majority of whom Iseult wastes no time frightening away. When at last her father finds a suitor desperate enough to take Iseult off his hands―a man whose medical treatments have turned his skin silver―a true comedy of errors ensues.As history’s least conventional courtship progresses into talk of marriage, Iseult’s mother becomes increasingly volatile and uncontrollable, and Iseult is forced to resort to extreme, often violent, measures to keep her in check. As the day of the wedding nears, Iseult must decide whether (and how) to set the course of her life, with increasing interference from both her mother and father, tipping her ever closer to madness, and to an inevitable, devastating final act.

About Molly Pohlig

Molly Pohlig graduated from James Madison University with a BA in English, and from University College Dublin with an MA in Film Studies. She is the associate editor for Vogue Knitting magazine, and has written humorous pieces and personal essays for Slate, The Toast, Racked, and The Hairpin. Originally from Virginia, she currently lives in Brooklyn.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chandra on April 15, 2020

This is quite the interesting read. I'm utterly fascinated with books dealing with mental health and how it was dealt with in history. And as we all know, times have changed drastically in this field. Pohlig brings us Iseult (I STILL can't figure out how to pronounce this so my mind kept pronouncing......more

Goodreads review by Justin on December 26, 2022

3.75 stars Not for the faint-hearted, taking Gothic horror to the extreme, The Unsuitable is the least 'fun' novel I've read in recent years. Still, I applaud Molly Pohlig's craftsmanship at depicting such despair and dread in vivid detail — think the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Per......more

Goodreads review by amanda on September 17, 2019

Well This was…a lot of somethings. I’m going to just throw a bunch of trigger warnings on it now. Trigger warnings: self mutilation, suicide, blood. This is Gothic Victorian Horror with lots and lots of self mutilation. If you are in any way uncomfortable with that, please do not read any further. Thank......more

Goodreads review by Janelle Janson on July 03, 2020

Thank you Henry Holt for my free copy. THE UNSUITABLE is a bloody, outlandish gothic tale set in the Victorian era. It’s full of dark scenes and even darker thoughts. Iseult is twenty-eight, a spinster, and her father is desperately trying to marry her off. Even though her father is a cruel man, she......more

Goodreads review by Bandit on August 18, 2019

This is a story about a young woman whose mother lives in her neck. That’s actually how the author herself pithily described the book in her afterword. But, obviously, there’s more to the story than that. The thing is, though, not that much more. In fact, it probably would have made a much more pote......more


Quotes

"[Esther] Wane neatly conveys moments of dark humor against the looming tone of Gothic horror. Although Iseult dominates the narrative, Wane uses distinct tones, pacing, and inflections to convey the housekeeper’s motherly fussing, Jacob’s gentle kindness, Beatrice’s cajoling harangues, and her father’s emotional cruelty. Wane creates a haunting emotional roller coaster as Iseult’s tale explores parental love and the obligations of marriage."
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