Saturnalia: A wholly original blend of feminism, cli-fi, suspense and magical realism

Doors open at 7. The sacrifice is at 9. The dress code is, as usual, black tie.

It's the winter solstice in a Philadelphia that has been eroded by extreme weather, economic collapse, and disease-carrying mosquitoes. The Saturnalia carnival is about to begin - an evening on which nearly everyone, rich or poor, forgets their troubles for a moment.

For Nina, Saturnalia is simply a cruel reminder of the night that changed everything for her. It's now three years since she walked away from the elite Saturn Club, with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. Since then, she's led an isolated life, eking out a living telling fortunes with her Saturn Club tarot deck.

But when she gets a chance call from Max, her last remaining friend from the Saturn Club, Nina will put on a dress of blackest black and attend the Club's wild solstice masquerade, the biggest party of the year, on a mysterious errand she can't say no to.

Before the night is over, she will become the custodian of a horrifying secret - and the target of a mysterious hunter.

As Nina runs across an alternate Philadelphia balanced on a knife's edge between celebration and catastrophe - through parades, worship houses, museums, hidden mansions, and the place she once called home - she's forced to confront her past so she can finally take charge of her own, and perhaps everyone else's, future.

A wholly original blend of feminism, cli-fi, suspense and magical realism, Saturnalia is a story about environmental collapse and class warfare, trauma and rebirth, and magic – the extraordinary, ancient magic of alchemy and the ordinary, timeless magic of bravery and forgiveness.

'A heady mix of the most terrifying elements of our troubled past and inevitable future; an eerie, propulsive novel - Carmen Maria Machado

'An unusual blend of thriller, alchemical fantasy and climate apocalypse, it's a wild, entertaining ride' - Guardian

'October demands that gothic, autumnal read and Saturnalia is it... This has it all: magic, mystery, a fierce female protagonist, and a fact paced plot that will keep you turning the pages' - Glamour (Best New Books for October)

'A propulsive mystery-thriller... Future Philly falls somewhere between steampunk and cyberpunk - baroque, pungent, stratified, crumbling - and Feldman gives its plight considerable emotional charge by making it feel real and lived-in' - SFX Magazine

'A chilling tale of alchemy and corruption... Saturnalia is both dazzlingly inventive and full of spine-tingling menace' - Washington Post

'Taking place over one evening, this book should be devoured quickly, like the sinful treat that it is' - CrimeReads

'Saturnalia was worth the wait. Feldman spins a web of intrigue and wonder across a city beset by dark powerbrokers, climate upheaval, deadly mosquitos, and lavishly costumed pagan social clubs marching down Broad Street in celebration of the winter solstice' - Philadelphia Inquirer

'Tense and suspenseful, Saturnalia features strong world-building and a fully realized heroine… It will appeal to fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House, while the book may also draw in readers of climate horror such as Omar El Akkad's American War or Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy' - Booklist

© 2023 Verve Books (Ebook): 9780857308405

Release date

Ebook: 2 March 2023