“Private Rites” by Julia Armfield is a seamless blend of: - A very nuanced family drama highlighting how the personalities of people sharing trauma can clash despite their good (or at least not malignant) intentions - A hypothetical exploration of climate change and its consequences on society, architecture, social rules, religion, and much more - And how mental health adapts or tries to cope with “the end times”. How do you live knowing it will just keep getting worse? How do you focus on relationships and a job knowing it is most likely all for nothing? How do you live knowing you have it bad but countless others have it even worse? And this blend works so very well, the book had me gripped from beginning to end. The rising paranoia throughout the novel is palpable. I also loved the prose.

Loved it, not as much as Our Wives Under The Sea, but it definitely was equally as haunting. I adore her writing style, period. She's so clever and confident in her prose. I admit it was a bit slow at times, and 3 POVs + even "city's", Jude's and Stephanie's POVs at times were a bit too much for me, although it flowed really well. I adored the sense of impending doom hahaha. It wasn't a nice book, it was never meant to be. Loved all the character's faults, their selfish thoughts, their traumas. Not a fan of the ending per se, feel like less would have been more in some way. But for now I'm just glad that it doesn't rain 24/7 and hope humanity gets its shit together.