Thanks to Delacorte Press for the free advance copy of this book. 

Margot's mother has always kept any information about their family history from her. They live shut up in a small apartment, alone together in the world. But Margot stumbles across her grandmother's phone number and decides to call her up and visit her ancestral hometown, only to find that her family's history is much longer and darker than she could ever have imagined. 

BURN OUR BODIES DOWN moves quickly and powerfully, a story of a matriarchy twisted into something horrible. The whole book has an atmosphere of something off kilter, of a storm in the distance. And when the pieces begin to fall into place, I could not turn the pages fast enough. 

It's also a knife-sharp illustration of emotional abuse and the lasting, even generational effects gaslighting can have on those who experience it and turn it on their children. 

Additionally, I just want to note the small joy of a book that features a queer character - one who explicitly names herself as such on the page - and that it has no bearing on the plot at all. There's no romantic thread to this book and it's not even a coming out story. She simply is a lesbian, that's all. 

Content warnings: emotional abuse, death, body horror.