The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

By: Andrew Joseph White

Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare.

New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time!

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its guts to the world—so long as the school doesn’t break him first.

Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White’s much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.

©2023 Andrew Joseph White (P)2023 Listening Library

I hurt

Andrew Joseph White really knows how to just rip your heart out. It feels amazing tho 10/10 would recommend.

perfect queer horror

this book was simply amazing and made even more so by the amazing narration. the atmosphere is haunting and the personality of Silas is so well done with how he interacts with his environment and how he thinks.

as a queer trans person myself, I've never felt so represented in a story. the way each is explained and worded is so beautifully exact to how I myself feel. I can't recommend this book enough

an excellent body horror experience

As a transmasc autistic with severe anxiety, it is extremely rare to hear almost my exact point of view in a character. the biggest departure being surgery and human anatomy as a special interest.

This book is brutally honest without engaging in torture porn and is a thrilling experience. I do not know if it would hit someone who does not view the world through this lens as hard, but I hope it would instill a spirit of empathy. The horrific practices centered around a fantastical premise still happen for different reasons, even today.

But take care, this books trigger warnings should be taken very seriously.

Big fan of AJW, Loved Every Moment Of This!

Its kind of funny but this book actually helped me realized that im slightly on the spectrum as well, loved the read very very dark and a great way to put the spooky season to a close for me.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

I was gripped the whole time! I’ve only recently dabbled into horror and this has shown me how much I’m into gore. The characters were also all well done. Big fan of the author and have his other book on my bookshelf to be read.

horrifically good

This was so disturbing and so well written that even when I was cringing and squirming with my feelings on the awful things being done, I literally couldn't stop listening. It was such a dark story, but the sprinkles of hope and the self-discovery and the connections made it beautiful.

I love this book and author so much

I love this goddamn books so much. It is diverse, detailed, and accurate. It is a fantasy, but I was never bored during the story and dreaded when I had to put it down to go on with my day. Please read it!

On par with Wolfgang von Goethe

I read a little bit about the author before I started the book. I was concerned, right off the bat, that the hype might just be because he is a trans author. I'm pleased to say that that is not the case. The words roll off the tongue in the most beautiful of ways. The pros are comparable to Wolfgang von Goethe. I'm not kidding.

However, in terms of content, I found a large part of the book to be a diatribe on how it feels to be a man in a woman's body, searching for way way to be expressed. This Was represented in about 80% of the novel. The other 20% was the horror story.

This made me wonder if the author is capable of writing about anything other than their personal journey. There are a lot of young authors these days that fill their pages with their own personal identity story, book after book after book. I hope that is not the case with this author. The talent is too strong.

One of the best books I have ever read

I don't know where to begin honestly, this whole book is great. The writing and narration are both phenomenal. I did not know what to expect when I saw that this book had a trans protagonist in the 1800s, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well both trans characters were handled.

This is the best book ever

It’s the best book ever and ever and ever. I love this book. It’s the best.