The Society for Soulless Girls

By: Laura Steven

Narrated by: Marisa Calin, Ell Potter

A sapphic enemies-to-lovers retelling of Jekyll & Hyde, this dark academia thriller follows two roommates who must solve an infamous cold case of serial murders on their campus after an arcane ritual gone wrong prompts another death.

Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous unsolved North Tower murders at the elite Carvell Academy of the Arts, forcing the school to close its doors.

Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless freshman Lottie Fitzwilliam is determined to find out what really happened. But when her beautiful but standoffish roommate, Alice Wolfe, stumbles upon a sinister soul-splitting ritual in a book hidden in Carvell’s library, the North Tower claims another victim. Is there a killer among them . . . or worse, within them?

Exploring possession and ambition, lust and bloodlust, femininity and violence, The Society for Soulless Girls is perfect for fans of The Secret History, A Lesson in Vengeance, and The Grimrose Girls.

©2023 Laura Steven (P)2023 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"An intimate exploration of women’s anger, bladed with mystery and sapphic desire. Laura Steven has cut a modern Gothic gem, leaving room for glints of her trademark humor."—Samantha Shannon, New York Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

"An engrossing mystery with well-drawn characters."—Kirkus Reviews

"The gothic atmosphere inspires thrills and chills."—Publishers Weekly

Feminine anger are

An interesting take on ridding women of their anger by men in positions of authority.

loved it

genuinely enjoyed all the gothic literature references and the descriptions fit so well to a dark academic theme. I normally feel like i can figure out the evil or plot of a book early on but i was just as caught up in all of it as the author intended. I think the only time i felt a little detached from the book was the nun and rubies bit. But everything, including that was beautiful woven together. Also i just love Jekyll and Hyde references.

Loved the narrative

Very good listen and great plot with likable characters, excited for more books in the future.

Aesthetically pleasing & great plot

This book circles the theme of acceptance of all emotions as a woman. The author shines a light on the ridiculous notion that feminine emotion is supposed to be all light in the eyes of small minded people.

The aesthetics of this book is so compelling; creaky floors, woodsy campus, herbs, crystals and hilarious characters with great style.

The performance of Alice’s voice was too slow for my taste but speeding the pace to 1.2 smoothed this issue for me. And I was little disappointed the romance factor never reached a full boil.

However I enjoyed this book so much, I’d definitely recommend.

So good

I read this on a whim, not sure what to expect. So happy that I did. It starts a bit slow but… wow! Really worth it.

Good story overall, just disturbing at times

Just a warning that there is a scene where an animal gets murdered. Hard to get through that part for me personally. Wanted to warn others that have a hard time with this type of content.

we need more books like this

I love this so much! so wholesome and sweet, I love the end, yay!! we need more books like this❤️😆

Amazing Character Development

This book was pretty good. I will definitely be buying a physical copy. I fell in love with Lottie and Alice because of the amazing character development. They were both so different yet very similar. I loved the camaraderie forged between Alice, Hafsa, and Lottie. Overall, I enjoyed the plot twists the most. This book has some major themes such as LGBTQ romance, missoginoir, love etc. Laura Steven has definitely convinced me to read more of her books.

Rather ham handed

I just finished and my overall thought is "that was dumb". There are so many better ways to explore female anger, powerlessness, and the duality of man. This was just silly, plodding, and exceedingly unsubtle. They are also some of the most annoying characters I've encountered in a long time. Not scary, not thoughtful, not good.