A spellbinding story about two girls whose friendship is so intense it not only threatens to destroy them, it changes the trajectory of history.
I was granted eARC access to When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
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About the Book
When We Lost Our Heads
by Heather O’Neill
Published 1 February 2022
HarperCollins
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Page Count: 448
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A spellbinding story about two girls whose friendship is so intense it not only threatens to destroy them, it changes the trajectory of history.
Marie Antoine is the charismatic, spoiled daughter of a sugar baron. At 12 years old, with her blond curls and her unparalleled sense of whimsey, she’s the leader of all the children in the Golden Mile, an affluent strip of 19th century Montreal. Until one day in 1873, when Sadie Arnett, dark-haired, sly, and brilliant, moves to the neighborhood.
Marie and Sadie are immediately united by their passion and intensity, and they attract and repel each other in ways that light each of them on fire. Marie with her bubbly charm sees the light and sweetness of the world, whereas Sadie’s obsession with darkness is all consuming. Soon their childlike games take on a thrill of danger and then become deadly.
Forced to separate, they spend their teenage years engaged in acts of alternating innocence and depravity—until a singular event unites them once more, with dizzying effects. And after Marie inherits her father’s sugar empire and Sadie disappears into the city’s gritty underworld, a revolution of the working class begins to foment. Each of them will have unexpected roles to play in events that upend their city—the only question is whether they will find each other once more.
Traveling from a repressive finishing school to a vibrant brothel, taking readers firsthand into the brutality of factory life and the opulent lives of Montreal’s wealthy, When We Lost Our Heads dazzlingly explores gender and power, sex and desire, class and status, and the terrifying power of the human heart when it can’t let someone go.
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My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
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When We Lost Our Heads is a dark and gritty coming-of-age story set initially/part of the time in 1873 Montreal and part of the time overseas. Marie and Sadie are the best of friends, absolutely inseparable, until a terrible accident results in the death of a maid and the girls are to blame. When one friend betrays the other, the girls are separated into a nursing situation back home and a boarding school far, far away. It’s only when they’ve lost each other in addition to their innocence that they truly begin to understand what they had and what they’ve lost.
Content warning: sexually explicit scenes, rape and prostitution, abortion.
I think this is one of those books that will be some peoples’ new long-term favourite that burrows deep into the brains and hearts and keeps coming up when asked for recommendations for decades. I can see this being used in college/university settings. I can see this being compared to “the classics.” I think it’s beautifully written for what it’s meant to be. Unfortunately, it didn’t convince me that it’s the best thing since sliced bread, but I recognize good writing when I see it, and this is a top-notch example of the flavour of literary fiction the author is going for. I’m just clearly not the target audience.
This is going to be a love it or hate it title among everyone who isn’t used to giving higher praise to things they didn’t like even if it deserves it, so I firmly expect the average rating on this book to sink below what it’s worth once it has had time to collect a lot of them. If you like dark and gritty hard-truth life story fiction, don’t be dissuaded by reviews from people who didn’t like it. This one is so brutally raw and honest that it’s going to polarize the audience.
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