A First Rate First Novel: Daughters of Chaos by Jen Fawkes
Daughters of Chaos (Harry N. Abrams, July 9, 2024)
Back in 2021 I ran across a story collection by a writer I had never heard of – Tales the Devil Told Me, by Jen Fawkes. I wrote of it,
It comprises a set of reimaginations of fairy tales and other classic literature: there are radical takes on Rumpelstiltskin, the Odyssey, Moby Dick, Peter Pan, and more. In most cases they take a sympathetic view of the villain of the tale; and they are by turns witty and dark, extravagant and savage.
Fawkes has published one other collection, Mannequin and Wife. Now we have her first novel, Daughters of Chaos.
This is told by Sylvie Swift, who writes this for her twin daughters in 1877, 14 years after the events the novel depicts (and after their conception.) Sylvie and her own twin, Silas, were born as their mother died, and were raised in Kentucky until they were 14 by their devastated father and their ten years older sister, Marina. As they grow, it’s clear to Sylvie that Silas has an excessive fascination with fire – and he claims to see people in the fire.