Herculine’s narrator has demons. Sure, her life includes several hallmarks of the typical trans girl sob story—conversion therapy, a string of shitty low-paying jobs, and even shittier exes—but she also regularly debates sleep paralysis demons that turn to mist soon after she wakes and carries vials of holy oil in her purse. Nothing, though, prepares her for the new malevolent force stalking her through the streets of New York City, more powerful than any she’s ever encountered. Desperate to escape this ancient evil, she flees to rural Indiana, where her ex-girlfriend started an all-trans girl commune in the middle of the woods.
The secluded camp, named after 19th-century intersex memoirist Herculine Barbin, is a scrappy operation, but the shared sense of community among the girls is a welcome balm to the narrator’s growing isolation and paranoia. Still, something isn’t quite right at Herculine. Girls stop talking as soon as she enters the room, everyone seems to share a common secret, and the books lining the walls of the library harbor strange cryptograms. Soon what once looked like an escape becomes a trap all its own.
While trying to untangle the commune’s many mysteries, the narrator contends with disemboweled pigs, cultlike psychosexual rituals, and the horrors of communal breakfast. And before long, she discovers that her demons have followed her. And this time, they won’t be letting her go.
I’m having the weirdest fucking moment sitting here attempting to start my review for Grace Byron’s debut novel, HERCULINE. My “process” for writing reviews can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on any number of things (how busy I am, how bad my mental health is, etc.) But it usually involves a lot of thinking. And as I was starting to gather my thoughts about HERCULINE, a book I found incredibly disturbing, challenging, and funny in equal measure, I realized I could not remember the name of the main character for the life of me.
It’s a first person story, and skimming the first couple chapters wasn’t helping me. Checked a few Goodreads reviews and lo and behold, the narrator is unnamed! How about that. At least now I feel better about not remembering, but that’s a pretty wild thing to not ever realize while reading, so I’m still kind of absorbing that part of it.
We’ll call her The Narrator. She’s a trans woman living in New York City, sort of bouncing between jobs, writing, spending lots of time with friends, and having lots of sex.
She’s also haunted. Both by her own trauma, having been sent to a conversion camp when she was younger, and by actual literal demons. After getting fired from her most recent job, she decides to finally take her ex up on her strange offer: drive to Indiana and spend some time at the all-trans-girl commune that she (the ex, Ash) has established. The camp is called Herculine.
So she goes. And it’s…nice? Kind of. It’s cliquey, there’s a ton of different personalities & inevitable clashes/jealousy, etc. But there’s something about the place that works for The Narrator, at least temporarily. It just turns out that she didn’t leave her demon(s) behind in New York City, and there are plenty more unspeakable horrors waiting for her in Indiana.
The book has a really slow burn quality to it, and the horror elements are somewhat sparse. But oof, when they do pop up, Byron’s imagery is fucking nightmarish.
Overall, HERCULINE is way more stream-of-consciousness than I tend to prefer in a book, so I was almost surprised by how much I enjoyed this. There are times where The Narrator flits from one thing to the next so quick it’s almost dizzying. But somehow it all just worked & I was able to hang in there with a writing style that I sometimes find quite isolating & confusing.
This is an angry, unpredictable novel. It’s shocking & upsetting at times, and off-the-wall and hilarious at others. The book is so smartly written & is an incredible addition to any trans horror shelf. I think Grace Byron is a ferociously talented writer & I’m excited to see what’s next from her.
Content warnings are quite numerous, so please take care while reading this, and maybe check Storygraph for a more comprehensive list of CWs. But be prepared for: transphobia and transphobic slurs, body horror, pregnancy, animal cruelty/death, and sexual assault.
Big thanks to Saga Press for sending this one my way!!
Grimdark Dad 
I believe I have an eARC of this book, but I couldn’t remember why I requested it. Thank you for your review; I have a better idea of what to expect from this book.
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