Set in 1866 Paris and described as for fans of Sarah Waters, I couldn't resist checking out Camelia Lowkis's adult novel debut, Spitting Gold.

The story focuses on Baroness Sylvie Devereux and her sister Charlotte. Sylvie has obtained upper class respectability with a loving husband and a comfortable home. Her sister Charlotte, however, is still struggling, living with a dying father and trying to make a living as spirit medium, something her sister had given up in her social climbing. When Charlotte, pulls her sister in for one last scheme it could destroy both their lives.

The story itself was enjoyable with lots of intrigue, gothic melodrama, and some Sapphic romance, but what to me was most interesting was the the way in which Lowkis give us first one sisters perspective and then the other of what unfolded with part one and part two covering much of the same time, but from totally different unique and equally compelling view points. Perrault's French fairytale, "The Fairies" or better known in English as, "Diamonds and Toads" is referenced several times about a "good" sister who is rewarded with wealth by a fairy and a "bad" sister punished, but in the end for the novel it is much more murky who is the "good" and who is the "bad."

Spitting Gold caught my eye because it gave me historical fiction mixed with Ouija: Origin of Evil vibes by the description. Within the first few pages, it already had me saying “excuse me what?!” and making guesses as to whether or not the main character was going for the long con and who was being played by whom.

I wanted to love this book SO BADLY, but it seems like the long con was a bit too long for my attention span. After 63 pages of not really getting anywhere I’ve set the book down for the foreseeable (no pun intended) future.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed discovering the relationship between Sylvie and Charlotte! The atmospheric tension was great. It sort of gave me the energy of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson in that way.

Ok yall. I know it’s been ages since I’ve posted a book review but this gothic masterpiece from @carmellalowkis was so good it pulled me from my semi-retirement. Are we sure this was a debut? Because it was so beautifully written. I enjoyed the shift to the second sister’s point of view more than I thought I would because I’m usually a fan of alternating point of views. I loved Charlotte’s character way more so I only became more interested the further into the book I got. I saw a lot of reviews that knocked off stars because “it wasn’t horror like I thought” or “it was marketed to me as sci-fi and was let down because that genre didn’t quite fit” but honestly the fact this book was unique and touched on multiple labels made me love the book even more. Kudos to Carmella for keeping me guessing and on my toes the entire time. Pick this one up if you’re a fan of witchy vibes, sister drama and sketchy con artists.

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the gifted copy of this book!

This book wasn’t terrible but I feel like it was marketed wrong. It’s not a ghost story but a historical family melodrama mixed with lesbianism, not Gothic nor ghost story. It isn’t terrible but not as marketed which was a big let down. Also I don’t think they used the word ain’t in 1800s France. Glad I didn’t buy it!

Thanks to the author and publisher for the copy I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was really wanting to enjoy this book especially because I thought the cover was so cool but it just didn’t work for me. I think that this was largely because I preferred Charlotte as a character, so all the Sylvie POV chapters dragged for me. I would have rather read a whole book from Sylvie’s POV, but the midpoint reveal wouldn’t work if the book was written that way. This is also just a personal thing but I’ve found that first person POV books are something I don’t connect with as much. Frankly I think it comes down to the writing style/POV just not being my taste.

Thanks to Atria Books for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. This is my honest review.

More queer books like this please. I usually read romance but mysteries, Horror, and scifi are really my favorites. It's just hard not easy to find those in the queer genre. In the last few years that really started to change.

This isn't a story about love, but instead about a mystery. Set in 1866 Paris, when Europe was kicking up speed on the Industrial Revolution and the world was on the precipice of emence change. Skeptics start to emerge and spiritual scammers are declining, able to get away with the scam less and less.

It was so interesting to see this in a queer context, and without it being the focal point of the story. Sapphics just existing even when they aren't necessarily the best of people in this story. It was real, funny, and interesting. A great debut novel!
3.5 stars 🌟

With gorgeous prose and a lovely gothic feel, this definitely delivered on its “for fans of Sarah Waters” promise. It felt like a solid blend of Fingersmith and Affinity. Though this was more predictable than Waters’ books, there were still plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing whether the ghosts were real, fake, or some combination of the two.

Sylvie’s perspective held my attention, but I feel like the book truly picked up when it switched over to Charlotte’s perspective, in large part because Florence stole my heart. I really wanted that poor gal to win.

My only criticism is that the ending felt rushed, the final twist was too obvious, and I don’t think the epilogue was needed.

Overall, a very impressive debut. I look forward to reading more from Carmella Lowkis.

CW: For DA, deaths, and mentions of past SA.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Carmella Lowkis debuts with Spitting Gold, a historical fiction novel centered on two spiritist sisters. Set in 19th century Paris, Sylvie and Charlotte Mothe had built a reputation as spiritists which ended in their abrupt retirement after an incident that resulted in their estrangement. Sylvie married into a title and as baroness Devereaux, she has all she ever dreamed. When Charlotte shows up at Sylvie's home, Sylvie is dragged into one more haunting. The de Jacquinot family has requested their services, but each sitting reveals more and more secrets that all parties would prefer stay hidden.

Spitting Gold is centered heavily on sibling dynamics with Part 1 of the book focused on Sylvie's perspective and Part 2 focused moreso on Charlotte. The secrets within the Mothe family and de Jacquinot family are peeled back in layers with the time frame denoted by date at the start of each chapter. This unveiling of varied pieces of the puzzle is paced slowly, though Lowkis' writing is accessible.

Each character has distinct flaws to them, with no character taking the lead as a clear protagonist. Lowkis takes the time to make each main character accessible enough for the audience to sympathize with their position, while simultaneously making each character (for me, at least) difficult to outright like. Queer character representation was scattered throughout the book and time period accurate difficulties associated with queerness were included.

This combination resulted in a strange duality where I was engaged while reading, but felt little motivation to pick the book back up after I had stopped for the day. While I can certainly respect Lowkis' work, I think this was simply a matter of this not being the book for me personally.

Overall, I was grateful for the opportunity to read Spitting Gold early, and have hope that it will find its target audience.

I was intrigued by the premise of a gothic centering con artists in 19th century Paris. Unfortunately, I'm not the right reader for this book. The pacing is slow and rather tedious, so I just couldn't get into the book.

I like the ghosty meets historical fiction we've got going on here. .A really solid debut novel! I enjoyed the back of forth and "is this place actually haunted or are we just really good at scamming?!" The plot jumped between its multiple conflict a lot that I found myself re-reading to see when it had changed. The sisters relationship was very complicated, it gave me whiplash. There's a lot of characters and I struggled to remember who was who. The ending is kinda sad, but the closure we all needed! Would recommend if historical fiction is your genre. :)

Spitting Gold is a wonderful gothic tale featuring a pair of estranged sisters who had once worked together as "spiritualists." They knew lots of trick, but their mother insisted that what they did was "real" in its value to others. Both of them dreamed of escaping the poverty they'd been raised in. Sylvie, the older of the sisters, remade herself and married into the upper class, determined to break all connections with her family. Charlotte, the younger sister, has been stuck at home trying to care for their violent and volatile hard-drinking father.

The novel is set in 19th Century Paris, with the violence of the French Revolution a constant presence underlying all else. As the book opens, Charlotte has tracked down Sylvie to help her with one last spiritualist con. Charlotte promises that Sylvie will never hear from her again after the con is over—and in a moment of weakness Sylvie agrees to help.

From this point on, Spitting Gold offers one twist after another. Spitting Gold is one of those novels that leaves readers imagining multiple possibilities every to there's a turning point in the plot. And it's not just the plot that surprises. As the novel progresses, the reader's understanding of who Sylvie and Charlotte are changes, a bit like looking through a kaleidoscope—one knows what one's seeing, but it never looks the same from one moment to the next.

Spitting Gold is a perfect read for those times when you want to escape to a world between two covers, leaving the "real" world behind for the kind of world—in deed and feeling—that well-written fiction can offer.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

The ending!? Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.

While I’m not the biggest historical fiction fan, the description of this book caught my attention. I do love mediums and spiritual findings!

Parts of this book had me completely absorbed.. ie the seances and possessions, and other parts just felt like they dragged on. I found Charlotte to be a great character and I was invested in her story. So that was a plus.

All in all, it was a quick read and fun enough at times to keep pushing through.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.

Very interesting intersection of spooky mystery, at once intriguing and thrilling, while also firmly grounded in the vulnerability of its characters. The POV switch in the middle of the story is very well placed, and the blurred lines between the spiritual or the conspired are woven quite creatively to tell a tale of reclaiming agency by those whose lives are controlled, upended and traumatized by a patriarchal aristocratic society, even faded and diminished after the revolution. I wish there was a third POV in this, that of Florence's, because this is very much her journey, the Mothe sisters merely being the witnesses to it, while also reclaiming their relationship and agency.

Where do you draw the line when it comes to family?

Sylvie has finally made her way into the upper echelons of Paris society, & in the year 1866 is mostly settled into her luxurious life of being a baroness: but then the sister she cut ties (Charlotte) with comes knocking, & her carefully constructed life threatens to topple unless she can return to the world of fake-seances-for-rich-people to score one last payout. As the counterfeit haunting begins, the question they’re confronted with is this: could there be an actual ghost this time?

This was an intriguing debut novel! I very much enjoyed seeing things from Sylvie’s POV in Part One & Charlotte’s in Part Two - as someone who is a sister & has sisters, I could relate to the way childhood events are seen differently by each sibling. The amount of research that must’ve gone into making this historically accurate must’ve been staggering, & it was bittersweet to read about the way queer people continued to find love in a society that forbade it.

Thank you to NetGalley & Atria for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i'm slowly becoming an expert on sapphic historical fiction spiritualist books, idk how I keep finding my way to these books.

thanks to netgalley and atria books for the arc!

there was a lot I appreciated in this book - the structure was very cool. It's basically one story told from two different POVs. The cut over to the other POV was very well timed and placed perfectly in the book. I found the sister dynamic very compelling and though this book lured me in with the promise of a sapphic love story, I was honestly more interested in the sister dynamic (which is saying something).

Obviously, as a lover of ghost stories and historical fiction and lesbians, there was a lot up my alley in this book.

But there was a lot that didn't work for me either.

I think the repeating of the same story in two different POV, though structurally I really enjoyed it, just wasn't executed to my liking. It felt like we were just skimming over the more compelling (and gayer) POV and getting snippets. Especially since there's where the love story and the heart of the story came into play, I thought it was unfortunate that it felt like the sparknotes version. Obviously it makes sense to skim since the reader already knows what's happening, but I felt myself less connected with that section of the story in consequence.

Also [MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW]

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As I've said above, I've read several gay spiritualist historical fiction and not a single one of them is actually giving me real ghosts! The fakeout ghost con is a very popular trope in the gothic literature genre, but one of these times, I just want lesbians AND ghosts. Is that so much to ask for? I honestly felt let down with the reveal of the con job in the second POV.

[OK SPOILERS OVER]

All in all, it's a genre that is close to my heart so I'm probably more critical than others - it was a fun gothic mystery with a side of love story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I adored everything just about everything about this book. I'm a huge nerd for the spiritism craze of the 19th century, so I absolutely knew I needed to read this when I read the description, and to throw in a sapphic romance? My goodness, how wonderful. I loved how each sister was given a half of the book written in their POV and in that way we were given information, and that their voices were so distinct from each other. I liked that some questions were potentially left unanswered or up to the reader's interpretation, as I like a bit of ambiguity in my reading. But mostly I just loved this book.

Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis is a gothic mystery set in the 19th century Paris of two siblings. This is a good sister vs. bad sister story with gothic elements. But who is good and who is bad is something the reader has to decide.

Baroness Sylvie unexpectedly gets a visit from her sister. Both the sisters have a shady past. Her sister convinces her to participate in one last job for their father. But will this job cost them more than they are willing to bargain?

This story is a gothic mystery through and through with elements of romance and atmosphere. The first half is extremely engrossing, and though the second half falters a bit, it keeps the interest. The author has done an excellent job of highlighting that era's facade of maintaining a family's reputation and dignity at any cost. Especially that of a woman in the name of protecting her even though that protection might be costing her. Also, the same sex romances add to the mysteries. The cover of this book definitely adds to that element of mystery.

Thank you, Atria Books @atriabooks , for this book.

Adored this book! Gave me Victorian Oceans 8 vibes.

I found myself wishing there was more of everything; great debut, will definitely be recommending to my communities.

Two sisters, one dangerous hoax. The dual perspectives kept me reading, the mysterious otherworldly events and motives kept it interesting, and the end was wild. Murder, ghosts, romance, revenge, and more.