Private Rites A Novel
Private Rites by Julia Armfield is a novel published by Flatiron Books on December 2, 2025, featuring 304 pages in English. This work presents a speculative reimagining of King Lear, focusing on three sisters—Isla, Irene, and Agnes—who navigate themes of queer love and loss in a world increasingly shaped by relentless rain and the resurgence of old rituals. Following the death of their father, a revered yet cruel architect, the sisters confront their estranged relationships and the secrets left behind in their childhood home.
Readers will find a narrative that explores the complexities of family life as the sisters grapple with personal challenges and revelations stemming from their father’s will. As they delve into their shared past, tensions rise amidst Irene’s strained relationship, Isla’s ex-wife’s persistent calls, and Agnes’s newfound love. The story hints at deeper mysteries, including their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the peculiar interest of outsiders in their lives. This edition offers a rich exploration of familial bonds and the impact of hidden truths in a world on the brink of transformation.
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A NEW YORK TIMES Editors’ Choice!
From the BELOVED, AWARD-WINNING author of Our Wives Under the Sea, a speculative reimagining of King Lear, centering three sisters navigating queer love and loss in a drowning world
“One of my FAVORITE NOVELS of the past few years.” —Jeff VanderMeer, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author of Annihilation
It’s been raining for a long time now, so long that the land has reshaped itself and old rituals and religions are creeping back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their father, an architect as cruel as he was revered, dies. His death offers an opportunity for the sisters to come together in a new way. In the grand glass house they grew up in, their father’s most famous creation, the sisters sort through the secrets and memories he left behind, until their fragile bond is shattered by a revelation in his will.
The sisters are more estranged than ever, and their lives spin out of control: Irene’s relationship is straining at the seams, Isla’s ex-wife keeps calling, and cynical Agnes is falling in love for the first time. But something even more sinister might be unfolding, something related to their mother’s long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always seemed unusually interested in the sisters’ lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperiled world.
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