If you’re like me, you should NOT do what I did and try to read a chapter or so of Nghi Vo’s new book, The Scarlet Ball, before bed. I ended up staying up into the wee hours reading this lush, sharp, scary, sexy, and utterly absorbing novel of manners and magic. It’s described as a historical dark fantasy, but it certainly verges on horror as well; however, it’s also amazing!
If all you’ve read by Nghi Vo is the novellas from the Singing Hills Cycle, be aware that this book is very different from them. For one thing, it’s set in New York City in the Gilded Age; for another, it’s about desperate power struggles and making deals with demons. It has much more in common with Vo’s The Chosen and the Beautiful and its sequel, Don’t Sleep with the Dead. I adored both of those books, but they weren’t nominated for many awards, possibly because of being re-imaginings of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and what came afterward. (It’s even possible that they’re meant to be in the same universe as TSB, although later in this alternate history, since this book, like TCatB and DSwtD, refers to a drink called Demoniac.) I am hoping that The Scarlet Ball, with its completely original plot and characters, will win well-deserved recognition.
From the publisher’s description:
In exchange for enough wealth to outrun her past, Judith strikes a deal with the matriarch of the powerful Howard family: she will stand in for the missing Howard granddaughter, who was poised to make her debut when she disappeared. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith is white, rich, and about to risk body and soul in the deadly games that determine which girls will find a match—and which will be devoured. If she can keep her wits and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power who will be hers to command…so long as she can keep his infinite hungers fed. But to survive the season, Judith will have to seduce a storm in the shape of a man, before the night to which everything has been leading—the Scarlet Ball where the demons choose their brides.
Also according to the publisher, “Vo’s fusion of history and fantasy does for Edith Wharton what her acclaimed debut The Chosen and the Beautiful did for F. Scott Fitzgerald.” I already talked about TCatB and Gatsby, but I’ll admit that I’ve never read Wharton’s The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth. However, neither seems to be a direct inspiration for the plot and characters of The Scarlet Ball; it’s more about Wharton’s insights and analysis about class divisions and gender expectations. For me, Judith/Iphigenia and her demon lover were somewhat reminiscent of Irene and Soames Forsyte, and Soames’ need to completely possess and control Irene, in John Galsworthy’s The Man of Property and sequels. For earlier examples, look to Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth (regarding lower-class precarities and abuse/financial coercion) or practically any Jane Austen novel, where many women have to accept unpleasant suitors to escape worse circumstances.
Several characters in The Scarlet Ball, especially female ones, bear classical/mythical Greek names such as Atalanta. But I can’t think it’s a coincidence that the runaway heiress whom Judith replaces is named Iphigenia. The original Iphigenia of Greek myth was sacrificed by her father, Agamemnon, to obtain favorable winds for the Greek fleet to attack Troy, and sacrifice is a major theme of this book. Marriage to demons (who apparently all manifest as males, although they’re the personifications of natural forces such as fires and floods) is sold as a path to power and luxury to the daughters of a favored few families in the highest levels of New York City society, but many die in seeking this status. As for the sons of these families, they too sometimes become fodder for their families’ fortunes.
It’s made clear that none of these families would need to sacrifice their children just to lead comfortably rich lives. But these rich families aren’t content to be comfortable; they always want more wealth and more power. In that way, they have affinity with the demons, who are bottomless wells of appetites. Sometimes, the demons just see what they want and consume it (her) immediately. But some of them realize that it’s possible to both have their cake and eat her too, by delaying the denouement, by playing the game of pretending to be human and taking little bites every now and then over the years, savoring their slow feasts. This is possible only as long as the brides remain poised and self-possessed and never give in to fear.
Judith Ban, a half-French, half-Vietnamese former courtesan and current sweatshop seamstress, doesn’t know anything about all this when she delivers a dress to the Howard mansion. But her current life is awful, and she has appetites of her own, so when she’s offered a period of luxury for impersonating a missing heiress, she takes the deal (although she bargains to raise her rewards once she realizes the danger). She is courageous, resourceful, smart, and most of all, strong-willed, so watching her navigate all these hazards, both expected and unexpected, is thrilling and satisfying. It helps that she’s smart enough and warm-hearted enough, despite everything, to look for allies and show occasional kindnesses. I really enjoyed her character and her journey.
The Scarlet Ball, by Nghi Vo, will be released Oct. 6, 2026. 336 pages.
Content warnings: Extreme poverty, body horror, gory deaths, sexual acts, magical bindings, mutilations, historical sexism and racism, disasters.
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher for review via NetGalley.
