Members of Cainland frequently experience “hauntings”; Vern believes that Sherman is drugging the congregation.

During this time, she develops increased strength and healing abilities, as well as a bony tumor on her back.

Vern decides to leave the woods and track down Lucy, a childhood friend who was also able to escape Cainland.

[3] Hephzibah Anderson of The Guardian described the book as "a gothic techno-thriller" whose conviction overcame a shaky plot, adding that it was about "escape, self-acceptance and queer love.

It's about genocide and the exploitation of black bodies, self-delusion and endemic corruption, motherhood and inheritance.

"[4] Christina Orlando of the Los Angeles Review of Books stated that the book was "filled with sentences so exquisite, so crushing that I found myself rereading them over and over again" but that "I'm not sure I ever felt a sense of dread or hopelessness that typically characterizes Gothic horror fiction.

"[5] Julia Lindsay of the SFRA Review stated that the book "uses gothic and fantastic conventions that are particularly associated with Southern and African American literature" and that Solomon forged "a unique and fruitful link between the novel's queer and posthumanist themes.