Release Date: December 9, 2025
An ancient curse afflicting generations of women, religious trauma, witchcraft, and sapphic longing…a Tour-De-Force by a uniquely refreshing voice in horror.
I went into Dark Sisters with the expectation I was going to read an historical witchcraft story, but what I got was a haunting masterpiece of feminine rage and resilience.
Three women across three centuries are confronting a curse, but they don’t know it yet. In 2007, Camilla is the willful daughter of Pastor Burson, patriarch of The Path and Hawthorne Springs, a Christian community in northern Georgia blessed with affluence, but plagued by mysterious illness. Only the women are ever affected by this illness, and while some pull through, others are found at the strange tree in the woods, dead by their own hands.
In 1953, Mary is a happily married mother to a newborn daughter, living in blessed bliss in Hawthorne Springs. Or so she thinks. When the walls begin closing in, she’s “allowed” a job in the city, and discovers the dangers of being a woman in a man’s world. But she also finds something else unexpected: an friendship and a stirring feeling for the woman at the department store. A feeling she has tried to snuff out for as along as she can remember.
In 1750, Anne Bolton, healer and widowed mother to Florence, is a suspected witch. A daughter of nature, she tries to bring Florence to see the beauty of the natural world, despite Florence’s love for a Puritanical God and a town which would see her dead. She’ll sacrifice much to keep her daughter safe and build a life. And here we meet the tree, a mysterious black walnut that whispers of power.
Across the eras we follow these women who are determined to survive, despite the shackles of patriarchy and puritanism. When their stories converge, the truth of their connection, of the town’s affluence, is revealed.
This book still has me thinking. The characters are rich and dynamic. Camilla, ever the rebellious preacher’s daughter, learns and grows. Mary’s story had me crying and ready to throw my e-reader. Anne and Florence will tear your heart out.
Incredibly timely, there is an underlying message that screams for us to come together as sisters and acknowledge the power we have always had. To punish those who would seek to steal and pervert it.
Content Warnings: Religious trauma/oppression, SA, marital r*pe, suicide, blood/consuming blood, misogyny, implied racism, pregnancy, brief mention of abortion, homophobia, gore, body horror, emotional abuse, brief mention of child marriage.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #St. Martin’s Press for the early review copy!
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Temple of Dead Trees 
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