This one unfortunately missed the mark for me. Overall, it felt like it was just the juxtaposition of menial sibling fights continuing even as the world is quite literally ending, but then the last 50 pages happen and things just got weird and almost didn’t even fit to me. I wish it would have either had way more of the weird “horror” elements, and I say horror extremely lightly, or none at all. Additionally, more turmoil between the sisters or more content about the climate situation would have helped to add more interesting elements to this story. I just found The pacing was slow, and I know that if I hadn’t read it immerssevely, with a physical copy on hand and this audioboo, this would have been a dnf for me more than likely.

I genuinely do not think I could tell you what the plot of this book was if you BEGGED me. Julia Armfield’s books typically fall in the category of “all vibes, limited plot” in my opinion, but this one really took the cake.

I was drawn to this book after learning that it was based on King Lear and followed three queer sisters… this is really the only thing I can tell you about the plot even after reading it.

I was bored for the majority of this book and honestly just wouldn’t really recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ALC.

Queer King Lear lit fic with a backdrop of apocalyptic monotony, Private Rites creates a deep dive into the lives and thoughts of 3 simultaneously very similar and very different sisters. I really loved how Armfield shows all of a person's personality, the good and bad. It made the characters feel much more human. And the mundane end-of-the-world setting helped to highlight those human feelings toward helplessness, hopelessness, and loneliness.

When I first started this, I really didn't know if I'd like it, but after getting through the first couple of chapters, I really could not put this down.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an audio copy of this book. This opinions are entirely my own.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I went from reading one book about the world under water in the cities ironically (All the Water in the World) to this one. Two very different takes but I didn't love that last one. I enjoyed this one more than that other despite it being really slow to get into. The last 20% though it really picked up and I couldn't stop listening. This was my first novel by Armfield and I really liked her writing, it was the plot that I found slow. I listened via audiobook and I actually may have appreciated it a bit more if I physically read it. I liked the narrator of the audiobook. The excerpt makes you think the novel would be a bit more about the end of the world but it's more about sisterhood and grief.

I really like the story for this. It took a bit to get going but once it did I couldn't put this down! It wasn't what I would call a fast paced book but in this books case it worked. The pacing made it feel like an old fishing tale which really worked. The setting was positively divine though I'm not surprised as Armfield is a master of setting.
Overall this was a gloomy and atmospheric tale. It's perfect for a rainy night with a cup of something hot.

As much as I wanted to love this, I just wasn't a big fan. The writing was good, but I didn't find the plot engaging and was rather bored the majority of the time. However, I thought the narrator was excellent and did an amazing job.

Julia Armfield does it again. As I was reading this, maybe for like 85% of the book, I was pretty sure this was my least favorite Armfield book. Not bad, by any means, but it hadn't wow'd me yet. Then that lat 10-15% of the book came and MY GOD. "This is the wrong genre" is a quote that encapsulates my feelings pretty well. For most of the book I kept thinking, I don't really think this is horror. I say that as someone who loves literary horror. But I just wasn't seeing it in this. Then again, the last 10-15% came and the horror came barging through the door. I loved this book. So much. I immediately wanted to reread it. At its core, it is a book about sisterhood and allll the messiness that comes with that. Its also about the end of the world and all that, but its really about sisterhood. And I adored how the relationship between these three (gay, they are all gay) sisters was portrayed. 10 out of 10.

Private Rites by Julia Armfield, brought to life in the audiobook format, is a haunting and beautifully eerie collection that explores the dark corners of human experience. Armfield’s writing is both poetic and unsettling, weaving themes of desire, fear, and identity into thought-provoking narratives. The narrator’s performance enhances the atmospheric tension, delivering the stories with the perfect balance of mystery and intimacy. Each tale is deeply emotional and engrossing, though a few could have benefited from slightly more development. Overall, it’s a captivating and memorable listen, showcasing Armfield’s exceptional talent for blending the uncanny with the deeply human. A must-listen for fans of literary horror.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Flatiron for my free ARC of Private Rites by Julia Armfield — available now!

» READ IF YOU «
👯‍♀️ have sisters, because you’ll get it
👀 live for that ‘unsettling’ vibe in a story
🐙 enjoyed Our Wives Under the Sea

» SYNOPSIS «
Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes could not be more different—at least in the most obvious ways. Deep down, they share more than they think, especially when it comes to the rocky relationship each had with their recently-deceased father. When his will is read, tempers flare, but the sisters will have to come back together to combat the strange, unsettling feeling that someone is watching them…

» REVIEW «
Our Wives was one of my favorite reads of the year, so of course I simply HAD to get my hands on a copy of Private Rites! I’m happy to say I enjoyed it and that the eerie vibes were very similar to those of Our Wives, though they didn’t really “kick in” until the last third of the book or so. Fortunately, I was engrossed in reading about the sisters and their lives so I wasn’t pining for the creep-factor—it just became an added bonus.

Definitely check this one out if you love dark, brooding literary fiction with a sprinkle of speculative “wtf”…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a gorgeous book. More literary dystopian sci-fi/horror like this, please!
The dystopian/apocalyptic part of this book was masterfully done. The slow collapse of society and people still going to work amidst catastrophic flooding and weather events was chilling and honestly, a bit too real.
Loved how queer this book was, as well. The casual inclusion of a major nonbinary character, plus all the sisters being sapphic, was incredible.
King Lear is one of my least favorite Shakespeare plays, so the fact that I liked this retelling really shows how great an author Armfield is.
Armfield's prose is gorgeous and honestly unmatched. She is a master at water-based horror.

With 2022’s Our Wives Under the Sea under her belt, Julia Armfield is back with her next novel, billed as a queer, postmodern King Lear. In Private Rites, three estranged sisters are reluctantly reunited by the death of their austere father, a famous architect of their time. Questions regarding his estate remain, even after the will is read, and looming over the daughters’ attempts to carry on is a specter: a near future world, drowning in constant rain as a result of climate crisis.
By marketing the novel as a speculative & dystopian retelling of King Lear, Armfield sets Private Rites up for a very specific purpose, when instead its strength is in its openness to interpretation. A dozen people could read this book and have a dozen different opinions on the theme, setting, and characterization of the sisters- and all of those opinions would have merit. My opinion of the daughters was not favorable- I found them to be very self-absorbed and exhausting, and a detraction from the overarching plot lines- though some other readers may genuinely resonate with them. What most will probably agree on is that this is a very different story from King Lear. It only has the slightest resemblance in terms of a cast- there are three daughters of a difficult father, and nobody seems to get along.
Pacing is without a doubt the biggest obstacle in Private Rites. The first part (60% of the total book) was dreadfully slow. Long, meandering chapters with frequent POV switches led to much confusion in this section regarding who was whom, especially when the sisters had such similar names. Though I want to stress that narrator Hannah van der Westhuysen did a lovely job, the similarity of the character’s names and personalities lead me to believe that Private Rites could have benefitted from a cast of narrators for this audiobook. When the end sequence of the book finally arrives, there is too much packed into the last 7% of the book- truly zero to 100 mph. At the end, there is too much left unexplained.
Again, this is a book that will pull different reactions from different readers, and while it was not all I was hoping for, I don’t doubt that many will love this book. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC of Private Rites, which is available now.

Grief is a reorientation. Losing a parent forces you to navigate a world that looks outwardly familiar but feels profoundly alien. This compass-breaking is rendered beautifully in Armfield’s Private Rites, where subtle dystopian world-building mirrors the disorienting effects of loss. The life you once knew becomes blurred and unrecognizable, as though viewed through a persistent, impenetrable mist. Set in a distant future where the world is slowly drowning under a never-ending rain, the novel’s apocalyptic backdrop is both mundane and genius in its execution. The ever-present drizzle shifts how characters perceive the world — muted and distorted, like grief itself. The slow, relentless rise of the water line mirrors the creeping, inescapable nature of loss, threatening to overtake even the most solid of foundations. Armfield’s choice of this quiet catastrophe underscores the emotional weight of her story, where the personal and the global bleed into one another.

This book feels like a redemption of sorts. After feeling lukewarm about <i>Our Wives Under the Sea</i>, I was pleasantly surprised by how deeply I connected with Private Rites. The narrative's strength lies in its intimate portrayal of familial bonds, particularly between the sisters. Their inner lives are richly rendered, capturing the small, intricate ways grief manifests differently for each person. Armfield captures the tensions that come with trying to find yourself while remaining bound to family ties. In the wake of losing a parent, the siblings find themselves adrift, struggling to navigate a world where the gravitational pull of their shared loss no longer anchors them in the same way. This loss becomes one of the rare, universal experiences that affects all of them — and only them — simultaneously. It is a crucible that could either forge them closer together or leave them irrevocably unknowable to one another. Armfield deftly explores the fragile balance between connection and disconnection, making their evolving relationships feel deeply human. <i>Private Rites</i> doesn’t just tell a story of loss; it immerses you in it, forcing you to feel its slow, creeping inevitability — much like the rising waters in the book’s world. This quiet, devastating narrative will stay with me for a long time, leaving behind its own misty, melancholic imprint.

<i>Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this e-arc!!</i>

I have complicated feelings about Private Rites. I really enjoyed 90% of it -- the writing is gorgeous and evocative; you really get sucked into the world Julia Armfield has built and invested in the characters. As a sister, I felt especially connected to the Isla, Irene, and Agnes: I love books about sisters, and I think Armfield really nails the complicated relationship you can have with your sister.

The things I didn't like: I'm not super familiar with King Lear, but I still fail to see how this was a retelling of the story. I did read a plot summary of the play prior to reading this book, but I wish I hadn't known, because I think I was looking for connections I couldn't find. This may just be a me issue.

The ending: In a way, I could see this coming. Of course everyone was connected. But it just felt like all this build up just for things to ultimately fall flat. I felt a visceral sense of disappointment because I loved everything else about this book so much.

I seem to be in the minority here, but this book just didn’t work for me. Despite its intriguing premise, I found the story dull and excessively drawn out. The pacing left much to be desired, and the narrative struggled to hold my interest.

To make matters worse, I didn’t even realize the story was set against an apocalyptic backdrop until I came across other reviews. The setting felt so underdeveloped and buried in the narrative that it failed to leave any impact.

While I can appreciate Julia Armfield's prose, this one wasn’t a hit for me.

In a dreary, wet world of the not-too-distant future, three estranged sisters reunite after the death of their famous but aloof and usually unkind father. Agnes, Isla, and Irene are each trying to survive their world's slow descent into aquatic ruin and navigate personal relationships. As they reach for reconciliation amongst themselves, they realize they part of a larger plan -- and they rebel against it.

Julia Armfield's lush speculative writing is expertly brought to life by Hannah van der Westhuysen, who keeps a consistent narrative voice for each sister and the city itself, which works well for a literary fiction. Touted as a reimagining of King Lear, Private Rites focuses heavily on the sisters, not on their wayward father. The benefit is thus an excellent character study of each woman and her idiosyncrasies, as well as her relationships with her two other sisters. This was my first Armfield and I look forward to reading more by her.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Flatiron Books for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

Thank you to the publisher for letting me receive an advanced copy of Private Rites last month. I really enjoyed Our Wives Under the Sea by the same author so I was greatly anticipating her next book. Some are calling this a retelling of King Lear so this would definitely be for fans of familial dramas. The novel follows three sisters, living in a dystopian climate ravaged Britain as they reckon with their father’s death. I love the way that Julia Armfield writes about queerness with a spin on body horror but this book more so dove into the mental toll natural catastrophe takes on the body and mind as well as sibling dynamics, specifically sisters.

I was a little disappointed with this one. I found that differentiating the sisters became quite difficult at some points since they were all so similar (she called them the dyke King Lear daughters) and struggled with a lot of the same mental health symptoms. Now, having completed the book, I do think that this was purposeful to a degree to truly analyze how bonded they were, and I think it really drove home the sadness that circulated their relationship due to their inability to connect despite shared experiences. Losing both mother figures in their life and also experiencing consistent neglect from their father and only remaining parent drove them so far apart. In the simplest forms, this book was about loneliness and seeking comfort at the end of the world. I felt as if the core purpose of the book was to look at the relationship between the sisters and that the dystopian storyline was an add on. As always with this author, the writing was beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the end, but it felt like an afterthought in many ways. There were Easter eggs hidden throughout the book that tied into the ending, but to me, it didn’t feel prominent enough or useful enough. Once I had resigned myself to the fact that this book was going to primarily look at the relationship between the sisters. I began to really enjoy it a lot more. I had read an interview about the author where she says, “I’m interested in the concept of being one thing on the surface and another thing underneath, which I think is often very very central to the queer experience.” I think that concept makes sense to me in the essence of this book, but it was a little bit of a miss just due to the fact that some of that subplot was missing details. Regardless, I think that Julia Armfield is a wonderful writer and I will always appreciate her sapphic take on horror and drama, if you decide to read the book or you don’t, I still would recommend reading the article on Dazed in discussion with the author for Private Rites.

"What comes next?"

The sort of novel that will rattle your bones, your ideals, and your sense of self; the sort of novel that sedates and seduces you, only allowing you to realize you've been caught dreaming in its web when it's far, far too late.

5 Stars.

As one of three sisters, I find this book difficult to review properly. I loved the writing in this and the sense of atmosphere; it was gloomy and had the feeling of swirling down a drain. I was able to clue into what was going on early on in the story; however, that didn't diminish my enjoyment. I thought this book was ramping up to a five star for me, but I found the ending wanting. I'm curious to go back and read Armfield's other works, as well as reread this with a highlighter in hand.

Private Rites by Julia Armfield; beautifully narrated by Hannah van der Westhuysen.

From the award-winning author of Our Wives Under the Sea, Julia Armfield, a speculative reimagining of King Lear, centering three sisters navigating queer love and loss in a drowning world...

"It’s been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and arcane rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father dies. An architect as cruel as he was revered, his death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will."

I really enjoyed this dystopian novel on audiobook and admit I am a fan of Armfield's prose, imagination, boldness, creativity, darkness, queerness, and imagery. This is another watery book, following Our Wives Under the Sea, exploring women, womanhood, female and family relationships, the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is set in the future where there is a constant and continual rain that sets the scene for the dysfunctional family reunion as the 3 estranged sisters, Isla, Irene, and Agnes, gather at their famous father's glass home to go over his will. Two sisters have the same Mom, now gone, and the youngest, Agnes, has a different mother who she barely remembers and no one knows what happened to her.

The eeriness of the setting, with the sisters not really knowing their father and having issues with their mothers and others because of him, highlight their relationships with each other (or lack of), as well as their own queer relationships. I enjoyed it all as personalities and identities became more clear, or more muddled, and at times, I was confused and had to back up my audio, but I was always intrigued by Armfield's dark, unique, semi-sci-fi world.

Don't let the word "horror" in the novel's description lead you away from reading this (as it might have done for me); there are unusual and thrilling aspects, but not what I'd consider horror. It is definitely dark, as mentioned, and there are secrets and occurrences that might be more than you expect, and that's what is unique, surprising and interesting. YOU WILL NOT BE BORED.

Book Review 🎧 Family dynamics are so complicated and nothing brings out the depths of the secrets like a death. As Isla, Irene, and Angie reel from the death of their father, their complicated relationship with him in life impacts their grief. This beautifully twisting story at once captures the doldrums of daily life that magnify under the microscope of sorrow while slowly building into a captivating story arc that is simply mind blowing. Hannah van der Westhuysen narrates this riveting audiobook with precision, creating a delightfully dark and atmospheric experience.