Today's Read: What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine

What if your very touch had the ability to kill and resurrect? Could you live without directly touching any living (or once-living) thing? That is Maisie Cathey's fate, who killed her mother when still in her womb.

Deep in the wood there is a dappled clearing, a quiet space between two hills heavy with trees. A prickling bower joins the fists of land, letting through a single shaft of dusty light. Muffled birdsong can be heard, if you are quiet, carried on the whispering breeze. Old oaks cast heart-deep shadows. Alders bow their branches low.

—What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine (Harper Books, 2018, p. 1; Prologue)

Quick Facts

• Setting: 1990s; a centuries-old family estate
• Circumstances: In the modern world, Maisie Cathey is, like other women in her family's long history, cursed. She lives an isolated life in her late-mother's mansion, never feeling the comfort of another's touch. Wearing protective clothing, she may go outside but her father forbids her to go into the woods. Some of her female ancestors who dared walked among the trees disappeared forever. Maisie copes well enough until her 16th year, when she loses both her housekeeper and her father within days of each other, leaving the girl entirely alone. With a few clues to guide her, Maisie finally steps beyond the confines of her home to search for her missing father . . . but all the while, she feels the pull of the woods behind her house.
• Genre: feminist Gothic mystery (how do you like that for a genre?)
• Characters: Maisie, 16 years old, cursed, and innocent of the world; Peter, her father, an anthropologist; Mrs. Blott, their housekeeper; seven of Maisie's female ancestors who entered the woods but never returned
• More than just Maisie: For 1,300 years, women in Maisie's family tree have entered the woods to escape the burdens of their gender, never to return. We hear their voices and learn their stories.
• The good so far: I'm not quite halfway through the novel, but I'm invested: I want to know what happened to Peter, and I want to know how the stories of the seven lost women tie into Maisie's story. I want to know if Maisie's condition is permanent. I love the fairy tale / folk tale elements and the dark, Gothic atmosphere that Julia Fine has created.
• The not so good so far: It took me a few chapters to be pulled into What Should Be Wild, but once Maisie had a reason to leave her estate, things picked up.
• Who would like this novel: fans of Gothic mysteries, stories with strong female characters, books with feminist themes, and/or dark fairy tales