Oh. Oh, wow. A retelling of Bluebeard both stunning and hopeless. Genuinely, I am at a loss for words.

Thank you Netgalley, Natalie Theodoridou, and Tin House for the eARC.

This was almost a five-star read- a dreamy Bluebeard retelling that gives agency to the victims of a cruel husband and father. The unnamed narrator is attempting to explain this story to her child, and so tells it in the form of a fairy tale.

As the story goes, a woman named Agnes (not the narrator) is hired to nurse a local lord’s son following the death of her own baby. Agnes loves the child, but even she can tell there is something wrong with him. He smells of dirt, his fingers grow inhumanly fast, and his very existence causes crops to fail and animals to die. He has a tendency towards cruelty, and when he grows up every woman he touches becomes a ghost.

His first wife gives birth to a son, Tristan, and the narrative eventually switches over to him. This was easily my favorite part of the book. Tristan doesn’t have his father’s cruel nature, and his journey from little boy to young man was equal parts touching and devastating. The writing is lush and gorgeous throughout, but the chapters with Tristan had the strongest “fairy tale” quality.

Unfortunately, the book grew repetitive and kind of tedious to finish. There was only so much I could read about forests and parties and girls dying and becoming ghosts. The story was stronger when it focused on just Agnes and the boy, the boy and his wife, and eventually Tristan.

There’s an earlier plotline involving a shopkeeper that I also enjoyed, but as the narrative dipped in and out of the “real world” I felt myself losing interest. The fairy tale is simply a framing device, an allegory for spousal domestic violence, and I think that’s what kept me from feeling fully immersed in the story. I would have enjoyed it more if the fairy tale was the story, full stop. Still, this is a fantastic debut from a talented author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

I’m a fan of ghost stories, but after reading, I couldn’t describe how I felt about this haunting tale. I had many conflicting emotions. There will be some initial confusion as you begin reading the story but just go with it. Trust me. We meet Agnes, whose baby has died (but the narrator is not Agnes). She has been hired to nurse a local lord’s baby boy. They become close, and she stays long after she has finished nursing, almost raising the boy as her own. She senses something is not right with the boy. His fingernails grow long and fast, he smells like dirt, and strange things happen around him. The crops die, the animals birth strange creatures and items, and the people fear him. As he becomes a man and marries, every woman he touches becomes a ghost. These ghosts haunt the narrator and the man. The man has a son even though he never wanted one and tragedy is always around the corner.

Once you wrap your head around the story, it pushes full steam ahead and there is no going back. So you sit by the fire with the ghosts and you read. You get lost in the ethereal, dreamy story. It begins to feel very dark. You eat a cherry. You understand the darkness. You are also like the child who wishes for a different ending. But you know what the ending will be. To say that it is heartbreaking is to simplify it immensely. The author’s writing style is such that you are transported to another time and place. You can feel these women, and then when are hollow and feel nothing. One of the more powerful moments for me was the description of the many wives. It was rushed and hurried, only giving a few paragraphs to each (numbers instead of names), as if their existence didn’t matter. Their bodies were thrown here and there. I lost track of how many there were (maybe that was the point). This is a bold fairy tale retelling and I can’t wait to read more from this author! Thank you to Tin House Books for providing this book for review consideration via Net Galley. All opinions are my own.

Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou is a haunting and beautifully written take on the Bluebeard myth, blending gothic elements with contemporary themes of power and abuse. The story centers on Agnes, a nurse who becomes entangled in a mysterious and unsettling household, where echoes of past trauma linger like ghosts. The prose is lush and atmospheric, wrapping you in an eerie, dreamlike world that feels both timeless and razor-sharp in its commentary.

I loved how the novel balances the ethereal with the visceral—it’s chilling without being gratuitous and deeply reflective without losing its narrative drive. Some parts felt almost too surreal, but that only added to its haunting charm. A must-read for fans of dark, feminist reimaginings. 4.5 stars!

Hauntingly beautiful and lyrical this was a ghost story like no other, at first I was a little confused but quickly caught on, the writing is lush, people who enjoy gothic/folklore books will definitely enjoy

This book was all over the place. It started out decent until I realized one whole half of the book was about one woman, and the rest of them had small rushed parts. I couldn't keep up with who was a ghost supposedly, the past and now , and why he was evil. I think maybe if it had been a longer novel that able to go into a bit more depth, it would have been okay. It was just a confusing mess for me.

This was a beautifully done story and had everything that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel of this. It uses the reimaging of Bluebeard and was glad it created the story being told. The plot had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel in this world. It had that folktale element that I was hoping for and was glad the characters worked with that story. Natalia Theodoridou has a strong writing style and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

A lush and rich modern fairy tale with more secrets and crannies than you can count. Lyrical, haunting, and utterly new, while recalling our most dangerous stories and warnings.