-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
This page-turning, harrowing debut is the story of a girl trying to fit in, whose obsessive new friends and desperation to belong leads her to places she'd never imagined…dark, dangerous, and possibly even violent.
In 1998, a sixteen-year-old girl is found dead.
She's posed on a swing on her boarding school's property, dressed all in white, with no known cause of death. Whispers and rumors swirl, with no answers. But there are a few who know what happened; there is one girl who will never forget.
One year earlier: a new student, Violet, steps on the campus of Elm Hollow Academy, an all-girl's boarding school on the outskirts of a sleepy coastal town. This is her fresh start, her chance to begin again in the wake of tragedy, leave her demons behind. Bright but a little strange, uncertain and desperate to fit in, she soon finds herself invited to an advanced study group, led by her alluring and mysterious art teacher, Annabel.
There, with three other girls―Alex, Grace, and Robin―the five of them delve into the school's long-buried grim history: of Greek and Celtic legends; of the school founder's "academic" interest in the occult; of gruesome 17th century witch trials. Annabel does her best to convince the girls that her classes aren't related to ancient rites and rituals, and that they are just history and mythology. But the more she tries to warn the girls off the topic, the more they are drawn to it, and the possibility that they can harness magic for themselves.
Violet quickly finds herself wrapped up in this heady new world of lawless power―except she is needled by the disappearance of a former member of the group, one with whom Violet shares an uncanny resemblance. As her friends' actions take a turn for the darker and spiral out of control, she begins to wonder who she can trust, all the while becoming more deeply entangled. How far will these young girls go to protect one another…or to destroy one another?
"Murder and witchcraft mix with a heady cocktail of drugs, booze, and revenge in this elegant, pitch-perfect coming-of-age story." - Kirkus Reviews
"Lowe's sinuous prose weaves a disturbing tale of friendship, obsession, and revenge, and readers must decide whether Violet is a trustworthy narrator. Those who thrill to dark coming-of-age tales with a dash of the uncanny will find much to enjoy." - Publishers Weekly
"Drugs, sex, magic, and murder infuse this quick-paced read that will entertain teen and adult readers alike." - Library Journal
"Lowe's dark, suspenseful debut combines the teenage sisterhood of The Craft and Emma Cline's The Girls with the violent schoolyard vengeance of Heathers [and] poetic, lurid prose." - Booklist
"Dark and alluring, Katie Lowe's debut novel, The Furies, is a sensory buffet of beautifully gritty prose and a plot that combines witchcraft, murder and the power of angry young women searching for vengeance." - Shelf Awareness
"Katie Lowe is a magical wonder! The Furies, a modern tale of witchcraft, betrayal, and murder, combines the linguistic pyrotechnics of Poe, the Gothic sensibilities of Daphne du Maurier, and the psychological suspense of Shirley Jackson in a disturbing, edge-of-your-seat thriller that will terrify as well as enchant!" - V. S. Alexander, author of The Magdalen Girls
"The Furies is a deliciously disturbing tale of obsession, rapture and the excesses of youth. Both fast-paced and beautifully written―rarely has a story this driven and diverting been so ecstatically told. The Furies is destined to become a book passed from paw to grateful paw. Unapologetically dark, and all the better for it, this smart, sinister novel exults in its dazzling prose and dangerous themes." - Christopher J. Yates, author of Grist Mill Road and Black Chalk
This information about The Furies was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Katie Lowe is a writer living in Worcester, UK. A graduate of the University of Birmingham, Katie has a BA (Hons) in English and an MPhil in Literature & Modernity, and is returning to Birmingham in 2019 to commence her PhD in female rage in literary modernism and contemporary women's writing. The Furies is her first novel.
If you liked The Furies, try these:
by Emily St. James
Published 2026
An unforgettable and heartwarming book-club debut following a trans high school teacher from a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.
by Susan Mihalic
Published 2021
A darkly gripping debut novel about a teenage girl's fierce struggle to reclaim her life from her abusive father.
by Rory Power
Published 2020
A feminist Lord of the Flies about three best friends living in quarantine at their island boarding school, and the lengths they go to uncover the truth of their confinement when one disappears. This fresh, new debut is a mind-bending novel unlike anything you've read before.
L.A. Women by Ella Berman
Two ambitious writers in 1960s LA face betrayal when one writes a novel based on the other's life.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
