Jen Fawkes

"Dazzling historical fantasy . . . Both the historical and fantastical elements come alive in Sylvie’s suspenseful narration, which is interwoven with the text of the imaginary play. Fawkes wows with this wildly original tale.”​   --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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"A riot of lust, secrets, gods, and mythical creatures make this a thoroughly entertaining novel, rich in detail and lavish prose. Fawkes shines a light on women troublemakers through time in this dazzling feminist tale."   --Kirkus Reviews

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"Fawkes’ genre-blending debut novel expertly examines how women have found and exerted their own power throughout history. Inspired by the real-life experiences of the exiled Civil War era 'public women,' Daughters of Chaos will appeal to readers and book clubs seeking to savor a layered, chaotic, feminist read."   --Booklist

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"A dazzling synthesis of history, myth, and sheer invention. Fawkes is a bold, wild, funny writer, unafraid of taking risks. I’m eager to see what she does next."   —Charles Yu, National Book Award–winning author of Interior Chinatown

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AN EPIC NOVEL ABOUT CIVIL WAR–ERA NASHVILLE’S “PUBLIC WOMEN,” AN AGE-OLD SECRET SOCIETY, AND THE EARTH-SHAKING POWER OF THE FEMALE

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In 1862, after a tragedy at home, 22-year-old Sylvie Swift parts ways with her brother to trace the origins of an enigmatic playscript that’s landed on their door-step. It leads her to Nashville, bustling with soldiers, saboteurs, partisans, powerful men––and powerful women.

 

Sylvie translates the playscript by day, but at night, she acts as a Union spy. Both endeavors acquaint her with a sisterhood whose members—including Hannah, a fiery revolutionary to whom Sylvie is increasingly drawn—possess potentially monstrous powers. Sylvie soon becomes entangled in the Cult of Chaos, a feminist society steadfast in its ancient mission to eradicate the violence of men.
 

Inspired by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and the true story of Nashville’s attempt to exile its prostitutes during the Civil War, Daughters of Chaos weaves together “found” texts, fabulism, and queer themes to question familiar notions of history and family, warfare and power.

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"Jen Fawkes’s writing—and her characters—are ferociously, radiantly compelling in Daughters of Chaos. Like the best historical fiction, this speaks to the reader and the times in which she lives."

 

—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love and Pulitzer Prize Finalist

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"Daughters of Chaos is a roaring tale told by a masterful storyteller, guaranteed to surprise you again and again. Its inventive, shapeshifting form lets Jen Fawkes play hard in the most serious way, as all the best storytellers do; through her novel's many delights, Fawkes delivers everything I want innovative historical fiction to be."

 

—Matt Bell, author of Appleseed 

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"In her elemental inventiveness, Jen Fawkes is descended from the Angela Carter of Wise Children and The Bloody Chamber but is also up to something exhilaratingly new. Daughters of Chaos is joyful and bold, populated so richly with twins and prostitutes and mythical creatures and historical figures that in the great thrill of watching its tapestry unfurl, the enormity and seriousness of the questions Fawkes is asking snuck up on me. This novel is interested in nothing less than the forces of chaos and order and the question of where lies threat and where salvation. Ambitious, vast, expertly crafted—an extraordinary achievement."

 

—Clare Beams, author of The Illness Lesson

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