I enjoyed Eden Royce’s new book, Psychopomp & Circumstance, coming Oct. 21. It’s billed as a Southern Gothic fantasy, but for me, it’s much less about the fantastic and much more of a coming-of-age story, as a young woman learns to stand up for herself and make choices; she also learns some unsettling truths about her family and its history.
From the author’s website:
Phee St. Margaret is a daughter of the Reconstruction, born to a family of free Black business owners in New Charleston. …
When word arrives that her Aunt Cleo, long estranged from the family, has passed away, Phee risks her mother’s wrath to step up and accept the role of pomp—the highly honored duty of planning the funeral service. Traveling alone to the town of Horizon and her aunt’s unsettling home, Phee soon discovers that visions and shadows beckon from every reflective surface, and that some secrets transcend the borders of life and death.
The house of Phaedra’s late aunt Cleo is sometimes welcoming, sometimes a bit creepy – Phee is badly frightened early on – and Phee has to search diligently for clues to allow some doors, both physical and metaphysical, to be opened. There are some flavor-bits that enhance the background, such as imp-like messengers, and hippocampi that draw carriages through the flooded streets of New Charleston, but mostly, magic stays in the background, hardly even referenced. The most significant demonstrations of magic come when a spirit is eased upon its way, and when Phee has visions that might almost be mere dreams, but she finds great reassurance in these spiritual moments.
However, most of the book’s developmental weight is spent on how Phaedra relates to her family, and the world. The book opens with a ball where Phee is coerced into dancing with a man whom she dislikes but her mother and father think would make a very suitable husband. The news of her aunt’s death gives her the chance to escape high society for a while and prove she can handle the funeral arrangements, despite the long estrangement after her mother had accused Cleo of taking their late mother’s necklace before she could be buried in it. Phee’s mother also doubts Phee is up to the challenge (having denied her the chance to handle any significant responsibilities before now).
Indeed, Phee is almost overwhelmed by the crushing burdens of decisions and expectations that descend upon her, and a lot of time is spent with her feelings, but she eventually finds allies in a friend of her aunt’s, a sympathetic funeral director, and eventually, Phee’s late aunt herself, through a sense of her approval. Revelations about past actions by her mother and father shock Phee but also help her find the strength to make even more dramatic decisions about her future. I think I also saw a hint of a possible romance in the future for Phee, although she seems unaware of that prospect.
Psychopomp wasn’t as exciting or (to me) as engaging as Royce’s middle-grade fantasy from last year, The Creepening of Dogwood House. However, it works very well as a pleasant palate cleanser between darker and more dramatic works, especially for people who are focusing on horror for the month of October.
Content warnings: Death, spirits, spooky stuff; references to slavery and vindictive violence by former owners.
Disclaimers: I received a free eARC of this book for review from the publisher via NetGalley. I also have had numerous friendly personal interactions with the author.
