The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

De: Andrew Joseph White

Narrado por: Raphael Corkhill

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare.

New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time!

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its guts to the world—so long as the school doesn’t break him first.

Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White’s much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.

©2023 Andrew Joseph White (P)2023 Listening Library

Big fan of AJW, Loved Every Moment Of This!

Its kind of funny but this book actually helped me realized that im slightly on the spectrum as well, loved the read very very dark and a great way to put the spooky season to a close for me.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

I was gripped the whole time! I’ve only recently dabbled into horror and this has shown me how much I’m into gore. The characters were also all well done. Big fan of the author and have his other book on my bookshelf to be read.

an excellent body horror experience

As a transmasc autistic with severe anxiety, it is extremely rare to hear almost my exact point of view in a character. the biggest departure being surgery and human anatomy as a special interest.

This book is brutally honest without engaging in torture porn and is a thrilling experience. I do not know if it would hit someone who does not view the world through this lens as hard, but I hope it would instill a spirit of empathy. The horrific practices centered around a fantastical premise still happen for different reasons, even today.

But take care, this books trigger warnings should be taken very seriously.

I love this book smm

amazing book, I love Daphne and I relate a lot with Silas being a trans man myself. Plus the voice of Raphael Corkhill is amazing, it made the experience ten times better, the emotion was so much in the tender moments, in the angry moments and especially when the rabbit was talking. I always love gore of any kind. I love Andrew's books so much, they are just written so weelll :)

perfect queer horror

this book was simply amazing and made even more so by the amazing narration. the atmosphere is haunting and the personality of Silas is so well done with how he interacts with his environment and how he thinks.

as a queer trans person myself, I've never felt so represented in a story. the way each is explained and worded is so beautifully exact to how I myself feel. I can't recommend this book enough

Outstanding and Unique

This coming of age LGBT novel delves into the world of 19th century sexism, medical treatments, and scientific experimentation. The main events of the story take place in a sanatorium. This “treatment center” is focused on curing violet eyed girls—spiritual mediums—from “veil sickness,” a term used to demonize girls who do not conform to the submissive expectations of the time. At the sanitarium, teenage girls are beaten and molested by the headmaster. Girls who are considered severe offenders of decorum mysteriously disappear. The grand reward to being “cured” of veil sickness is to be passed off into an arranged marriage, probably to a much older and likely cruel man.
The main protagonist is Silas Bell. Silas is a trans boy, initially characterized as a scared “little girl,” taunted by the voice of an inner rabbit. When Silas is faced by danger, the rabbit constantly tells him to not fight back—to be silent, to run and to hide. Silas’ fortunate suitor Daphne, a trans girl seen by the world as a young man, helps Silas progress into the person he was meant to be. Silas gains confidence as a man, as a powerful medium, as one who can fight back. He gains the strength to protect himself and others from the cruelty of the world.

Truly harrowing tale

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth... and sinks them into your throat, taking you along this dark journey into the pit of hell and out again. I listened to the audiobook version in less than a day and couldn't walk away. Raphael Corkhill does an AMAZING job narrating this fictional account of a transman trying to survive a conversion sanatorium and bring down the evil Spiritualist organisation behind it in Victorian England.

This is ultimately a story of triumph, of self-acceptance, and of finding your family. While being an incredible story with so much richness, and true horror, both real and paranormal, it is extremely heavy when it comes to LGBTQIA+ and women's rights and how they were treated in this era. This isn't a book for the faint of heart, even though it does have a happy ending.

Meaty, painful, and beautiful

This book became one of my favorites near instantly. It was dark and beautiful and they mix of queerness and mental health was something i connect with in a level thats hard to reach at times

I hurt

Andrew Joseph White really knows how to just rip your heart out. It feels amazing tho 10/10 would recommend.

Wow.

Genuinely an amazing book. The horrors are certainly horrifying. Medical horror has always been one of my more squeamish topics, so you can imagine how strange it is to hear so much comfort taken in it. The intrusive thoughts of “this thing that dictates my life can be removed” brings comfort not only to our main character but to me as the “reader” as well.