Aardvark Book Club Fan Club (Not Official) discussion

In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth. They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.

7 chapters / 24%

(view spoiler)[ okay, so good start! I can't imagine being told these things. it's crazy to think - being cursed, being forced to stay at a house. This family doesn't necessarily seem welcoming but they also seem like they might want to get to know her more, welcome her into the family
hopefully they don't just think they can get her to help them and then shove her back out

interesting to think she might actually be able to leave. I wonder if she'll have to test that or if staying there longer will keep her there more. . . (hide spoiler)]

16 chapters / 51%

(view spoiler)[ wow, are her relatives nasty people. to treat Ines/Agnes like that - that's why they are so mean. I wonder why she doesn't try to figure out why she can't talk.

and now to find out they owned slaves and clearly had some of them die on their land and they hid it. that's just awful

but what is the real curse here? If Ines isn't dead, how did she curse them? and is she a part of the curse them?

I wish she'd start talking to the ghosts to find out what's going on. I like that she went to the town and around the house to try to interview people. she's learning a lot (hide spoiler)]

25 chapters / 75%

(view spoiler)[ wow, once she thought she broke the curse, I have no idea why she didn't bounce the moment she could. that family really is just gross. I'm also really sad her mom didn't bounce too. Her mom was treated so bad by them.

but I guess we knew the curse wasn't broken - just one of them is. for sure, they've been cursed twice. would it have been the father? one of the murdered slaves? they were horrible to so many people.

but wow, I didn't expect the death to be Laurence! (hide spoiler)]

and I'm done

wow, that was a very heavy read, a lot heavier than I thought it would be (view spoiler)[ the family - wow, the mass casualties and the bodies buried there! OMG! but I was so glad she helped them move on.

I was surprised when she stuck around for so long, I can't imagine how tough that must have been (hide spoiler)]