Myrrh

Hall (The Taxidermist’s Lover) spins a slow and unnerving work of psychological horror around three women who stake their identities on their families. Myrrh is a biracial British adoptee consumed with finding her birth parents and learning where she came from. Despite her loving adoptive family, Myrrh’s tormented by a rage-filled inner voice she calls her goblin who berates her with malicious remarks (“You are nothing”), dangerous instructions (“Bite your tongue and fill your mouth with blood”), and taunts that the goblin is privy to a secret Myrrh doesn’t know. Meanwhile, emotionally volatile Cayenne struggles to save her loveless marriage as her manipulative grown stepdaughter uses her father’s affection against her stepmom. Cayenne desperately wants a baby, hoping it will salvage her marriage, and is devastated when the unwed stepdaughter becomes pregnant first. Finally, Sandra, the eldest of the three, is surprised when an unknown woman contacts her claiming Sandra’s inattentive Egyptian husband could be her biological father. Hall takes her time exploring the obsessions and motivations of all three heroines. Immobilized by doubt and self-delusion, they yearn for intimacy from their partners and validation from their families—even as they gradually descend deeper into madness. Patient readers will be rewarded. (Apr.)