Daughters of Chaos

Summary

AN EPIC NOVEL ABOUT CIVIL WAR–ERA NASHVILLE’S “PUBLIC WOMEN,” AN AGE-OLD SECRET SOCETY, AND THE EARTH-SHAKING POWER OF THE FEMALE

In 1862, after a tragedy at home, twenty-two-year-old Sylvie Swift parts ways with her twin brother to trace the origins of an enigmatic playscript that’s landed on their doorstep. This text leads her to Nashville, an occupied city bustling with soldiers, saboteurs, partisans, powerful men—and powerful women. Sylvie translates the playscript by day, but at night, drawn into the work by the chief of the Union Army’s Secret Service, she acts as a spy.

Both endeavors acquaint her with a sisterhood whose members—including Hannah, a fiery revolutionary to whom Sylvie is increasingly drawn—possess potentially monstrous powers. Sylvie soon becomes entangled in the Cult of Chaos, a feminist society steadfast in its ancient mission to eradicate the violence of men.

Inspired by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and the true story of Nashville’s attempt to exile its prostitutes during the American Civil War, Daughters of Chaos weaves together “found” texts, fabulism, and queer themes to question familiar notions of history and family, warfare and power.

“A dazzling synthesis of history, myth, and sheer invention. Fawkes is a bold, wild, funny writer, unafraid of taking risks. I’m eager to see what she does next.”—Charles Yu, National Book Award–winning author of Interior Chinatown