Burn Our Bodies Down

Starred review from May 25, 2020
For Margot Nielsen, 17, it’s always just been her and her mother, Jo. Nearly identical down to the gray streaks in their hair, the two share a cramped one-bedroom apartment. Margot’s mother insists that she follow very specific rules: keeping a candle lit, and never asking about her father or her mother’s family. After a fight with Jo, Margot heads to the pawn shop to repurchase one of her mother’s trinkets as a means to apologize; there,
she finds her
mother’s childhood Bible and, tucked inside, a photo of a woman who looks remarkably similar to both her and her mother, with a phone number scrawled on the back. Armed with this information, Margot runs away to find her grandmother, Vera, at a farm called Fairhaven. Once there, Margot begins to uncover deep family secrets and realizes that Jo may have had good reason for her strange behavior. Power (Wilder Girls) creates a vivid world with a gothic horror–like setting, where mutant corn stalks produce double helix cobs with pink flesh and where grandmothers are not exactly what they seem. Through Margot, Jo, and Vera, Powers examines the sometimes claustrophobic relationships of mothers and daughters with a genre twist that makes for a riveting, often frightening read. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kimberly Witherspoon and Jessica Mileo, InkWell Management.

Suffocating generational trauma gets a speculative twist in this eerie YA tale narrated by Lauren Ezzo. Ezzo ably portrays the pent-up emotions of Margot, who's been kept in isolation by her volatile, inscrutable mother. After discovering the grandmother she's never met, Margot runs away to join her at the fire-stricken family homestead, where the burning apricot groves yield uncanny fruit: the body of a girl who looks exactly like Margot. Ezzo leans into the story's slow-burning pace, suffusing Margot's low voice with longing for familial love (no matter how toxic) and for the truth that eludes her right up until the gruesome conclusion. Ideal for horror listeners who prefer mystery and creeping dread over straight-up scares. R.A.H. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine