Review: A Letter From the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cathrall at Locus


If the first of my reviews in the May 2025 issue of Locus was a bit of a downer, the second now comes along to offer a bit of consolation. A Letter From the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cathrall completes the duology begun in last year's A Letter to the Luminous Deep. Set among a society of scientists and academics who live on islands and atolls on a water planet, the two novels are both an investigation of this setting's genesis, and a charming epistolary romance.

One of the chief pleasures of these books is their use of language. Among the recent trend for tales about cod-Victorian scientists in fantasyland (a group that includes Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde series and Malka Older's Mossa and Pleiti novellas), Cathrall stands apart for her ability to capture both the mannered formality of her characters' diction, and the charming earnestness that shines through it. "I brought only my scientific journal with me, and I hate to sully it with anxious ramblings of a personal nature," Henery informs us early in A Letter from the Lonesome Shore. "If I thought I might encounter a purveyor of fine stationery in the fathomless depths, I would toss the whole book overboard and start afresh."

It’s that same earnestness, as well as their scien­tific insistence on specificity and candor, that makes E., Henery, and their relationship so compelling. E. is forthright about her Malady of the Mind, which subjects her to the conviction that she is loathed, that she has inadvertently served her loved ones poison or broken her hosts’ most important rules, and that she is responsible for everything bad that happens in her life (this last point becomes a par­ticular problem as E. goes out into the world and makes choices that, however well-intended, some­times have negative consequences). Henery is eager to respect her boundaries, but also constantly beset by the fear that he has made himself obnoxious and overbearing. In A Letter From the Lonesome Shore, they are removed from their comfort zones, thrown together without the protective barrier of a sheet of paper. It is enormously satisfying to watch them rise to this occasion. Without being "cured" of their respective conditions, they nevertheless come out of their shells, assert themselves, and give voice to the things they want – including each other.
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