Positioned as dark fantasy with a tinge of horror, A Spectral Hue follows a grad student named Xavier who travels to Shimmer, Maryland to study the loose collective of Black artists who’ve made strange and stunning artwork there, in a tradition that began with an enslaved girl named Hazel Whitby who became a prolific quilter. His story twines together with those of two other Shimmer residents, the unfolding history of the artistic movement, and the haunting that has produced it. ⁣
⁣
A ghost story that reckons with America’s brutal history of slavery, this book makes an excellent companion with fellow Lammy finalist The Deep by Rivers Solomon. It’s a magical, thoughtful, and unsettling read, and Gidney is a deft writer who packs so much into a few pages. I’m looking forward to checking out more of his work, but in the meantime I highly recommend this one. ⁣
⁣
Cw for slavery, homophobia, drug use.