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Herculine
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Expected 7 Oct 25Manhunt meets Lord of the Flies in this blistering horror debut following a young trans woman after she arrives at the all-trans girl commune founded by her toxic ex-girlfriend, only to discover that demons, both literal and figurative, haunt her fellow comrades—and she's their next prey!
Herculine’s narrator has demons. Sure, her life includes several hallmarks of the typical trans girl sob story—conversion therapy, a string of shitty low-paying jobs, and even shittier exes—but she also regularly debates sleep paralysis demons that turn to mist soon after she wakes and carries vials of holy oil in her purse. Nothing, though, prepares her for the new malevolent force stalking her through the streets of New York City, more powerful than any she’s ever encountered. Desperate to escape this ancient evil, she flees to rural Indiana, where her ex-girlfriend started an all-trans girl commune in the middle of the woods.
The secluded camp, named after 19th-century intersex memoirist Herculine Barbin, is a scrappy operation, but the shared sense of community among the girls is a welcome balm to the narrator’s growing isolation and paranoia. Still, something isn’t quite right at Herculine. Girls stop talking as soon as she enters the room, everyone seems to share a common secret, and the books lining the walls of the library harbor strange cryptograms. Soon what once looked like an escape becomes a trap all its own.
While trying to untangle the commune’s many mysteries, the narrator contends with disemboweled pigs, cultlike psychosexual rituals, and the horrors of communal breakfast. And before long, she discovers that her demons have followed her. And this time, they won’t be letting her go.
Herculine’s narrator has demons. Sure, her life includes several hallmarks of the typical trans girl sob story—conversion therapy, a string of shitty low-paying jobs, and even shittier exes—but she also regularly debates sleep paralysis demons that turn to mist soon after she wakes and carries vials of holy oil in her purse. Nothing, though, prepares her for the new malevolent force stalking her through the streets of New York City, more powerful than any she’s ever encountered. Desperate to escape this ancient evil, she flees to rural Indiana, where her ex-girlfriend started an all-trans girl commune in the middle of the woods.
The secluded camp, named after 19th-century intersex memoirist Herculine Barbin, is a scrappy operation, but the shared sense of community among the girls is a welcome balm to the narrator’s growing isolation and paranoia. Still, something isn’t quite right at Herculine. Girls stop talking as soon as she enters the room, everyone seems to share a common secret, and the books lining the walls of the library harbor strange cryptograms. Soon what once looked like an escape becomes a trap all its own.
While trying to untangle the commune’s many mysteries, the narrator contends with disemboweled pigs, cultlike psychosexual rituals, and the horrors of communal breakfast. And before long, she discovers that her demons have followed her. And this time, they won’t be letting her go.
272 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication October 7, 2025
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576 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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February 22, 2025As someone who has lived in an all-trans woman commune, with all the pitfalls and excesses that entails, I am intensely excited to read this book.
March 15, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC! And oof was this an unflinching look at the destructive forces of trauma and desire.
Since I can’t quote directly from Herculine, let me share a quote from Byron’s recent review* of Torrey Peters’s Stag Dance for a taste of the essence here:
Herculine is in conversation with exactly this incoherence. It is a meditation on the impossibility of qualifying gender, the foolishness of romanticizing lust, and the messiness of pursuing a dysfunctional self-fulfillment. It is anarchic, queer, unpleasant, and funny.
The novel pulls in two directions. There are a lot of thoughts about existing in the world as a white transgender woman haunted by a fundamentalist Christian childhood. Our unnamed narrator delineates the stereotypes, the struggles, the trauma, and the self-flagellating ways she chases love and community and repeatedly fails to find them. She incisively peels away mirages of trans joy and solidarity to expose a rotten core of jealousy and toxicity. Her cognizant critiques here are enlightening and, at times, humorous. This is where the story really stands out with its refreshingly direct musings on establishing not only your existence but your wants and needs in a world that does its best to shut you down.
The demonic all-trans girl commune that ensnares our narrator becomes a sort of external echo of the women’s desires as they trade their humanity for their bodies. The actual story gets a bit muddled: despite some excellently descriptive scene-setting, the blocking is often awkward and rushed, and the narrator tells some truly horrifying events in rather mechanical, superficial prose that does little to capture the atmosphere and emotion of the commune. I wanted a deeper sense of both her paranoia and her feelings for her ex-girlfriend as the plotline approached its climax, but I was left mildly unsatisfied. Still, as a cultural reflection, the horror of the narrator’s encroaching demons and her contentious relationships with other trans women and with herself made this a provocative and invigorating read.
* “Torrey Peters Reimagines Transness in Stag Dance,� Vulture, March 11 2025
Since I can’t quote directly from Herculine, let me share a quote from Byron’s recent review* of Torrey Peters’s Stag Dance for a taste of the essence here:
“Some actions cannot be reduced to simplistic internal incentives. […] Gender, like art, Peters argues, is not always explicable. The choices we make on a whim can sometimes say more about us than our most calculated attempts at coherence.�
Herculine is in conversation with exactly this incoherence. It is a meditation on the impossibility of qualifying gender, the foolishness of romanticizing lust, and the messiness of pursuing a dysfunctional self-fulfillment. It is anarchic, queer, unpleasant, and funny.
The novel pulls in two directions. There are a lot of thoughts about existing in the world as a white transgender woman haunted by a fundamentalist Christian childhood. Our unnamed narrator delineates the stereotypes, the struggles, the trauma, and the self-flagellating ways she chases love and community and repeatedly fails to find them. She incisively peels away mirages of trans joy and solidarity to expose a rotten core of jealousy and toxicity. Her cognizant critiques here are enlightening and, at times, humorous. This is where the story really stands out with its refreshingly direct musings on establishing not only your existence but your wants and needs in a world that does its best to shut you down.
The demonic all-trans girl commune that ensnares our narrator becomes a sort of external echo of the women’s desires as they trade their humanity for their bodies. The actual story gets a bit muddled: despite some excellently descriptive scene-setting, the blocking is often awkward and rushed, and the narrator tells some truly horrifying events in rather mechanical, superficial prose that does little to capture the atmosphere and emotion of the commune. I wanted a deeper sense of both her paranoia and her feelings for her ex-girlfriend as the plotline approached its climax, but I was left mildly unsatisfied. Still, as a cultural reflection, the horror of the narrator’s encroaching demons and her contentious relationships with other trans women and with herself made this a provocative and invigorating read.
* “Torrey Peters Reimagines Transness in Stag Dance,� Vulture, March 11 2025
March 20, 2025
Outstanding horror debut.
Thanks NetGalley & Saga Press for the digital galley.
Thanks NetGalley & Saga Press for the digital galley.
April 12, 2025
The horror works best first before the demonic deals the commune members make are revealed, when it’s just the mounting unease, then in moments like rituals with Dagon where the demons� capricious and cruelty alongside the gifts they offer to create the sense of a horrible balancing act, but one someone could convince themselves they can benefit from if they are careful. Later when everything goes off the rails and people start dying left and right, demons are running rampant, it feels like too much happening without substance.
Some pieces of life on the commune, the relationships between the inhabitants, mixing support and toxicity, and the cult behavior the leader, Ash, had cultivated even disregarding the demons, could also be enjoyable, but weren’t explored much. The narrator's introspection on her experiences as a trans woman raised by a fundamentalist Christian mother, her past experiences with cults and conversion therapy gave her an interesting view on the commune -- half cutting through the idyllic portrait of trans community, self-sufficiency, and pure T4T love with a practiced eye for the darker side of things and half an increased vulnerability and longing to believe in Ash's vision.
Some pieces of life on the commune, the relationships between the inhabitants, mixing support and toxicity, and the cult behavior the leader, Ash, had cultivated even disregarding the demons, could also be enjoyable, but weren’t explored much. The narrator's introspection on her experiences as a trans woman raised by a fundamentalist Christian mother, her past experiences with cults and conversion therapy gave her an interesting view on the commune -- half cutting through the idyllic portrait of trans community, self-sufficiency, and pure T4T love with a practiced eye for the darker side of things and half an increased vulnerability and longing to believe in Ash's vision.
March 30, 2025
First of all, thank you to Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for the free e-copy of Herculine by Grace Byron for review. Herculine was a fantastic debut that will surely keep me invested in what Grace Byron does next. Herculine had a wonderful and very unique plot that kept me thoroughly engrossed in what was happening next. On top of that, which I thought was the best part of the novel, is the great character development. The narrator was a fully fleshed-out character that you come to sympathize with as they navigate a harsh world and learn to cope and thrive in it.
April 5, 2025
Well, this book may not have been written with me in mind as its intended audience but I sure as hell enjoyed it. I found the writing style to be interesting and enrapturing. It was a unique plot that one I wasn’t sure was going to work, but made for a fun read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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