Mae lives on an island. The island is owned by the Prosper family, and Lord Prosper rules the island with his magic. Mae’s parents died when she was young, but the Prospers promised her father that they would take care of her until she was 18. Now she was 18, and she’s uncertain about her future. Will they ask her to leave the island now? It’s not what she wants. What she wants is for Lord Prosper and his grandson Ivo to teach her the magic that they use, but she doesn’t think that will happen.
Tonight is First Night, the night once a year when the island is filled with people. It’s the biggest party of the year, and while Ivo lives on the island, Lord Prospero’s other 4 grandchildren do not, and they are all expected to show up for First Night. But before they show up, before all the party arrangements are in place, before the champagne is flowing, Lady Vivian calls for Mae to help her out.
It’s rare for Lady Vivian to ask anything of Mae, so she goes to find out what she wants. Vivian asks Mae to try on her daughter’s wedding dress. Apollonia is known for her fashion sense and extravagant tastes, and at First Night, she will be announcing her engagement to Rex. Mae tries on the dress, feeling how exquisite it is, and wonders what Vivian is wanting from her. Finally, Vivian lets Mae know—she is hoping that Mae will agree to marry Ivo.
While most of Lord Prosper’s grandchildren are stylish and popular, Ivo is not. He’s unkempt and antisocial, keeping to himself on the island, not caring about the fashions or the parties or the traveling that the others fill their time with. Mae and Ivo had been spending some time together on the island, but then something happened, and Mae couldn’t remember exactly what it was, but it was upsetting. However, in this moment, as she is wearing Apollonia’s gorgeous dress, and Vivian is looking at her with such energy that she agreed to. Or at least, she hadn’t said no. And she wanted to say no. Because she really wanted to marry Miles.
Miles didn’t live on the island, but he’s coming back for First Night with his mother, Imogen, Lord Prospero’s daughter. Imogen had always been a little wild, and she got pregnant with Miles without bothering to get married. So while Miles was a Prosper, he was also illegitimate, making him something of an outsider in the Prosper world. Just like Mae.
Lord Prosper made his fortune by mining the powerful aether, an energy source more powerful than coal, gas, or oil. The aether wells are mined by the spirits indigenous to the island, who also add music to the winds and serve the Prosper family in their home. Mae had never thought much about the spirits, until she saw one with Ivo that day, and it looked like it was dying.
As Mae gets ready for the First Night, waiting for her friend Cordelia to come back home, and for Miles, and wondering what will happen to her if the Prospers ask her to leave, she is also coming to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the magic on the island. The spirits are unwell. Ivo is unhappy. And Imogen never shows up. Is it possible that Ivo is creating chaos on the island? Mae likes that idea, because that would give her the perfect excuse to get out of her engagement. And when she figures out that someone had used their magic to bind her thoughts, her memories, of something she saw, Mae feels betrayed. But as she and Miles and Cordelia try to figure out what is going on around them, Mae wonders if maybe everything she ever thought she knew about the island and its magic was wrong.
Bright Ruined Things is a powerhouse of a novel. A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this novel is filled with all the social politics and class struggles of the play. Author Samantha Cohoe melds a world of magic and its potential corruption with the young, wealthy, carefree, partying of The Great Gatsby or Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies. Set in the 1920s but touching on modern themes, Bright Young Things is a young adult novel with depth and panache.
I wasn’t entirely certain of what to expect with this book. I loved The Tempest, so I had to read this, but I am less excited by books about magic. I thought I’d give this a shot and see what happened. And what happened is that I got sucked into this beautifully written book almost immediately and was all in for whatever happened. Reading Bright Young Things felt a little like reading The Great Gatsby for the first time and discovering that I loved being in that world. It wasn’t anything like the world I live in, but there is a grace and a power to this novel that is enticing, playful, and unstoppable. Read a few pages, and if you can just walk away from it not needing to read more, then go ahead. But if you find it pulling you in, then jump on for the ride. You won’t be disappointed.
Egalleys for Bright Ruined Things were provided by Wednesday Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
