The Deathless Girls~ Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Expected UK Publication Date: 19th September 2019

The Deathless Girls is Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s debut YA novel. I’ve never read any of her other novels, but she is a name I recognise, being the author of The Girl of Ink and Stars.

The Deathless Girls is a feminist reimagining of the Brides of Dracula. As expected it has many gothic themes and some dark moments. The Deathless Girls is the story of Lil and her twin sister, Kizzy, whose lives are turned upside down on their seventeenth birthday when their home is burned to the ground and the two of them and the other children from their traveller community are taken to be slaves for the cruel Boyar Valcar.

Lil and Kizzy’s time in the Boyar Valcar’s castle reminded me a bit of a more character-driven version of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. It’s interesting to read the differences in reactions between Lil and Kizzy. Lil is the main character but she’s quiet and willing to be subservient to ensure their safety. Kizzy, on the other hand, wants to fight and lashes out, physically and verbally, against their captors. The difference in reaction causes a little bit of distance between the sisters and adds to the drama of the captivity.

During enslavement, Lil meets Mira and feels drawn to her instantly. This relationship was sweet and a little surprising in a book that I did think was going to have our protagonist fall in love with the vampire. All in all, the relationships in this story are beautifully written both the platonic and the romantic. It was nice that the LGBTQ+ relationship was a subtle, normal thing and not a main focus of the story.

The supernatural elements to this book, the vampires (or the strigoi) are not introduced until the last third, if not a little later than that. They are mentioned and rumoured throughout the novel, but we don’t actually get to meet them until a lot later. This works for the novel which focuses on the relationship between the Lil and Kizzy.

This book is a feminist novel for teenagers that is romantic and darkly thought-provoking. It dealt with the distrust and animosity between travelling and settled communities in a way that added to the story but didn’t take away from the supernatural plot. I really enjoyed this and found it hard to put down. Overall I give The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave four stars. If you want to read this book it comes out 19th September 2019 in the UK.

C 🌙