A Study in Drowning opens with one of the most mystical first lines I’ve ever read, and it only gets better from there.
Effy Sayre is a student commissioned to work on architectural plans for the late, great Emrys Myrddin, the national writer of Llyr. When she journeys to his family home, she meets Preston Héloury, a literature major searching for undiscovered material for his dissertation on Myrddin. Effy is protective of her favourite writer, whose book Angharad she loves, and although Preston is from the rival nation of Argant, she agrees to work with him.
Ava Reid’s writing is melancholy and beautiful. There is constant imagery of water, drowning and decay, with Effy and Preston wandering around the crumbling house filled with damp rooms and the blustery cliffs of the seaside town. It’s atmospheric, and the plot grabs you from the very first chapter.
Effy and Preston are engaging leads buoyed by some great supporting characters. I especially liked Effy’s passionate devotion to Myrddin’s writing. However, the absolute BEST part of the book is the story-within-a-story: Angharad. So much time was spent on this fictional novel, with Reid creating excerpts, early drafts, biography pages, literary essays, and cultural criticism, and none of it feels inconsequential to the story. In fact, I hope Reid decides to write it for real.
This fictional narrative felt like a mix of The Cruel Prince and The Haunting of Hill House, which was a great addition to an overall incredible book.
Reviewed by Rachel Denham-White
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ava Reid was born in Manhattan and raised right across the Hudson River in Hoboken, but currently lives in Palo Alto, where the weather is too sunny and the people are too friendly. She has a degree in political science from Barnard College, focusing on religion and ethnonationalism.
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