Hand, Elizabeth. Unspeakable Things. October 13, 2026. 368 pages. Little, Brown.
Belonging in the upper class in 1920s England is very much about birth and not wealth, with 18-year-old Olivia, or Livvie, living in Kerrith, a stately home in Cornwall, with her widowed father and a coterie of servants. Only there aren’t as many servants as one would like, the house is rented, and they’re in the wilds of Cornwall because Pater’s career is fading and everyone who matters knows that his chauffeur isn’t just that. Livvie herself, who sometimes goes by Oliver and dresses as a boy, is in a passionate affair with Tamsin, a local girl she met on the moor. Livvie tries to limit their relationship even after she finagles Tamsin moving into Kerrith, but it’s no use, they’re devoted, and when a visiting cousin brings Livvie to an upscale weekend party, Tamsin’s in tow. They’re secretly fleeing a death at Kerrith, with Tamsin the last person to speak to the deceased, and on the weekend away, a bizarre undercurrent of death continues while Hand skewers the always-on-the-take life of England’s wealthy. This puts class under a microscope, with offhand comments and tiptoeing meanness the currency of these people’s awful but engrossing lives. One for fans of Downton Abbey and all who enjoy a besotted relationship with a toxic undercurrent.—Henrietta Thornton
