Reviewed by Antonella Townsend
Sam Beckbessinger presents an entertaining version of a supernatural horror in her debut adult novel, Femme Feral, a howling commentary on modern society from a female perspective.
The main protagonist, Ellie, juggles work in the tech industry creating apps for guided meditations, and runs a household consisting of a vague, well-meaning but unhelpful husband. His demented father also lives with them; of course, the main bulk of his care falls on Ellie. She worries about her emotionally challenged daughter studying at the LSE, who has suffered from anorexia in the past. Basically, a slightly exaggerated sample of normal female life.
As a woman in a relationship with a man, you have two choices: accept lower standards, or do all the work yourself. There is no third option, and wishing for one will only make you resentful and furious.
Underappreciated, domestically and professionally, hot rage builds to dangerous levels when Ellie is passed over for promotion to CEO of the tech company she has managed for some years. The position given to Andreas, a stereotypical wanker who tends to communicate in buzz words. Describing the tech industry as:
… cults to petulant billionaires who have amassed more power than ancient kings
All the while perimenopause is making itself known – hot flushes, hot anger, mood swings, memory lapses, weird hair, but hormonal issues seem to morph into something altogether more sinister. The third option mentioned in the above quote perhaps. Letting Jung’s ‘a shadow-self’, a repressed hidden personality, take charge, if only for a night.
What kills us isn’t the man in the alley, it’s the slow, psychic death of trying to make ourselves small enough to be good.
Another marginalised woman, Brenda, is a pensioner, who finds that old age renders a women invisible. But Brenda isn’t having any of it, her hot temper positions her centre stage if she is provoked at any point. And her cat, along with other pets in the area, being mauled to death was provocative. She has made it her life mission to uncover the killer.
The main heft of the plot has a lot to say about women in the workforce, and how women’s health is treated or mainly ignored, brushed aside because hormones are too difficult! But Beckbessinger also incorporates into the novel a wide variety of humanity relegated to invisibility, ignored for not being ‘normal’. She brings to the fore mental health, eating disorders, cancer, aloneness, and reasons for violent behaviour in young men lacking credible role models.
There are not too many modern-day angst stones left unturned which are seamlessly woven through one rollicking scenario after another. The characters are honest representations of many people readers would know. It’s hard to review this novel without straying into spoiler alert territory, consequently the above is brief.
However, a few distasteful passages are of concern. Whereas an array of pets, mainly cats, come to grief in the service of the plot, there is mention of what some hideous people have actually done to kittens, one can only hope this does not give ideas to the unhinged. Especially as penalties for repugnant cruelty are far too lenient. Also, in the Author’s Notes Beckbessinger admits to actually using AI for the AI meditations texts. Interesting, let’s hope this will not become a trend.
Beckbessinger has created a supernatural horror plot matching it to the daily distress of women in a male dominated society.
by Sam Beckbessinger
(2026)
Bloomsbury
Paperback
ISBN: 9781526687883
$34.99; 384pp
Hardback – $42.99
Ebook (Epub & Mobi) – $16.99
Audiobook – $38.00