This story deepens into itself; it spreads into the darkest corners and sinks into the dirt beneath your feet. An eerily original portrait of 1600s Denmark, plagued by witch trials and the doom that follows thick paranoia and cursed accusations. It’s told in a way I’ve never quite witnessed before: from the perspective of a tiny wax doll whose maker was just accused. It feels as though these pages have been waiting for a reader for hundreds of years…just aging, fuming, materializing until now. A perfect, pleading horror story.
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, (List Price: $19.95, New Directions, 9780811238830, September 2025)
Reviewed by Emma, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC