Reviews
" Fervor is the book we need now. Bracing, compassionate, wise, terrifying--this beautifully-written novel will haunt your dreams. That is, if you can put it down long enough to get any sleep." --Darin Strauss, "Extraordinary. . . In Lloyd's explorations of religion, family, academia, and the haunting effects of the past, his writing is remarkably nuanced and, at the same time, suffused with suspense. A tremendous debut from a strikingly talented new writer." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "There is a daring hybrid quality to Fervor , a sense of branching interests that might doom another, less focused book. . . But Lloyd pulls it off, announcing himself as an exciting voice to watch. . . Even beyond the structural cleverness and the way it plays with perspective, Fervor succeeds on the strength of Lloyd's elegant, confident language. The book is driven by a constant push-pull between the sacred and secular, and Lloyd's prose reflects that with sentences that feel like they could simultaneously conjure up a spirit and captivate a very human audience. His voice is practiced, smart and spellbinding, making Fervor a book that fans of family dramas and horror stories alike will happily devour." -- BookPage (starred review) "Toby Lloyd confronts--somehow both head-on and sidelong--the awful and often blinding trauma of the Holocaust. . . What kind of novel is this, I found myself thinking as I turned its pages--surely one of the best questions a book can provoke. Is it a family story, is it a story about history, is it a full-on horror story? It is all these things at once, and it also asks, with urgency, who has the right to tell the story in the first place. . . This is a stylish, puzzling, mystical novel that offers no easy answers to how its characters--or its readers--might react in the wake of destruction. Inviting discussion rather than providing resolution, Fervor marks the arrival of an intriguing and intelligent new voice." --Financial Times "A gripping and powerful story of a British Jewish family visited by ghosts and divided by politics. . . Fans of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Stephen King alike will thrill to this superb modern folk tale." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Lloyd's suspenseful debut novel propels the reader deep into the heart of an idiosyncratic--and decidedly dysfunctional--family. . . Infused with motifs from Jewish folklore and classic horror films, Fervour animates themes of betrayal, belief and the past's long tail." --The Guardian "Bracing, compassionate, wise, terrifying--this beautifully written novel will haunt your dreams. That is, if you can put it down long enough to get any sleep." --Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life "Intriguing, propulsive and profoundly disturbing, this is a fearless look into the dark heart of family politics from a naturally-gifted storyteller." --Jonathan Coe, author of Middle England "[In] this debut [that] explores identity, faith, and folklore . . . the dynamics are acutely observed, the characters vividly realized, and the escalating drama has the hypnotic, chilling effect of a horror film." -- The Bookseller (Editor's Choice) "Both a provocative work of Jewish horror and a modern Biblical tale, Fervor is the tightly coiled story of an idiosyncratic family whose unlikely survival skills also spell its doom." --Francisco Goldman, author of Monkey Boy
Synopsis
A "magnificent" ( The New York Times ), chilling, and unforgettable story of a close-knit British Jewish family pushed to the brink when they suspect their daughter is a witch. Hannah and Eric Rosenthal are devout Jews living in North London with their three children and Eric's father Yosef, a Holocaust survivor. Both intellectually gifted and deeply unconventional, the Rosenthals believe in the literal truth of the Old Testament and in the presence of God (and evil) in daily life. As Hannah prepares to publish an account of Yosef's years in war-torn Europe--unearthing a terrible secret from his time in the camps--Elsie, her perfect daughter, starts to come undone. And then, in the wake of Yosef's death, she disappears. When she returns, just as mysteriously as she left, she is altered in disturbing ways. Witnessing the complete transformation of her daughter, Hannah begins to suspect that Elsie has delved too deep into the labyrinths of Jewish mysticism and gotten lost among shadows. But for Elsie's brother Tovyah, the truth is much simpler: his sister is the product of a dysfunctional family, obsessed with rituals, traditions, and unbridled ambition. But who is right? Is religion the cure for the disease or the disease itself? And how can they stop the darkness from engulfing Elsie completely? Bristling with the energy of a great campus novel and the unsettling, ever-shifting ground of a great horror tale, Fervor is a powerful family story--and "fans of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Stephen King alike will thrill to this superb modern folk tale" ( Publishers Weekly , starred review).