The Rust Maidens

Today's post is on The Rust Maidens  by Gwendolyn Kiste. It is 250 pages long and is published by Trepidtio Publishing. The cover has a female figure transforming into something inhuman. The intended reader is someone who likes horror with lots of character development. There is some foul language, no sex, and very mild violence in this novel. The story is told from the first person perspective of the main character, Phoebe. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Something's happening to the girls on Denton Street.
It's the summer of 1980 in Cleveland, Ohio, and Phoebe Shaw and her best friend Jacqueline have just graduated high school, only to confront an ugly, uncertain future. Across the city, abandoned factories populate the skyline; meanwhile at the shore, one strong spark, and the Cuyahoga River might catch fire. But none of that compares to what's happening in their own west side neighborhood. The girls Phoebe and Jacqueline have grown up with are changing. It starts with footprints of dark water on the sidewalk. Then, one by one, the girls' bodies wither away, their fingernails turning to broken glass, and their bones exposed like corroded metal beneath their flesh.
As rumors spread about the grotesque transformations, soon everyone from nosy tourists to clinic doctors and government men start arriving on Denton Street, eager to catch sight of 'The Rust Maidens" in metamorphosis. But even with all the onlookers nobody can explain what's happening or why- except perhaps the Rust Maidens themselves. Whispering in secret, they know more than they're telling, and Phoebe realizes that her former friends are quietly preparing for something that will tear their neighborhood apart.
Alternating between the past and present, Phoebe struggles to unravel the mystery of the Rust maidens0 and her own unwitting role in the transformations- before she loses everything she's held dear: her home, her best friend, and even perhaps her own body.

Review- This book was a woman's scream frozen in print. All the women in this novel are fighting to get out of whatever is trapping them, from a unplanned pregnancy to disapproving parents with other plans for her life. Only Phoebe has a plan and parents who are going to help her get out of this hopeless place. This novel is about women and their fight to be more than just wives and mothers and sometimes that fight is won in a very disturbing way. But the heart of the story is Phoebe and her dealing with what happened to the Rust Maidens and how it affected the rest of her life. It is in the end a hopeful story but at times, I wondered if Phoebe was going to make out and she does but she doesn't. The writing is incredible, the characters are so vivid that I could hear the girls screams and songs and the world are so real as on of the main plot points is something that happens in the real world all the time. I would highly recommend this novel, it is just incredible. 

I give this novel a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.