PSYCHOPOMP & CIRCUMSTANCE

When her estranged aunt dies, one young woman volunteers to settle the estate.

Twenty-one-year-old Phaedra St. Margaret, better known as Phee, is all too aware that she’s supposed to be pursuing marriage—her mother reminds her constantly of the fact. But Phee is interested in more than just cotillions with eligible men. Times in New Charleston are changing, and it’s possible for a woman to make a living for herself without a marriage; Phee just has to prove she’s capable. When news arrives that her aunt has unexpectedly died, Phee impulsively agrees to pomp for her—to arrange the funeral and all related affairs. Phee’s mother hasn’t spoken to her sister in years and isn’t happy that Phee volunteered, but Phee goes anyway. After all, someone from the family has to do it, and Phee hopes to honor the aunt she never saw enough. In her aunt’s house, Phee uncovers bits of her aunt’s life as well as mysterious hints of magic slipping through the halls. As Phee tries to understand how to manage things for her aunt, she also deals quietly with loss and with chances not taken as she decides what to do next with her life. Phee inhabits a magical version of post–Civil War America, where freedmen are discovering new paths for themselves while still, at times, facing racism and hostility. Phee also grapples with this reality, but for her story this is a backdrop for her internal coming-of-age journey and her reckoning with loss. All told, this is a refined, pensive tale, where the magical trimmings fade away to focus on the larger, fable-like narrative at play.

A tale of loss and hope and how the present can give way to new futures.