THE PLOT: ‘These Mortal Bodies’ by Elspeth Wilson is a dark academia novel about a girl who goes to a prestigious university and becomes obsessed with a secret society. Leaving behind her childhood in coastal Scotland, Ivy Graveson arrives at university full of grief and uncertainty. Although her fellow students are rich and privileged, Ivy is determined to belong. She becomes best friends with enigmatic Martha, the most popular girl in her college, and, together, they throw themselves into the world of balls and societies. However, the hallowed halls contain secrets that go beyond sisterhood and Ivy’s infatuation with the elite world becomes toxic.

SUMMARY:  This is a story about belonging, obsession and class-conflict, so, unsurprisingly, the blurb stood out to me. I was immediately hooked by the delicious, dark atmosphere and I love how Wilson writes about nature, threading imagery into her writing to build tension. However, I felt like there needed to be more plot and more drama as payoff for all the initial world-building. The concept for the novel is brilliant but I’m not sure if it really gets to the heart of the issues it presents, partly because there aren’t many consequences for the main character so she isn’t able to learn from her actions (she just gets more immersed in her behaviour). Overall, I’m giving this novel four stars because I really enjoyed reading it, which is a feeling I haven’t had much this year.  

GOOD BITS: My favourite aspects of this novel were the nuanced exploration of female friendships and world-building. The book first plunges us into tumultuous sea-strewn landscape then transports us into the oppressive, anxiety-ridden atmosphere of the university. This world-building created a strong sense of tension and it felt like the novel was slowly creeping towards a dreadful role-reversal. The main plot point that benefitted from this was the friendship between Ivy, Martha and Prim, which felt disturbingly relatable. I warmed to Ivy very quickly and could identify with her desperate need to fit in, and the parallels between female friendship and witchcraft piqued my interest (you know I love historical fiction).

NOT SO GOOD BITS:  I felt like the novel lost momentum after the halfway mark. The build-up was so exciting, I was waiting for a dramatic reveal about the history of the secret society, which would lead to Ivy completely spiralling into chaos. I guess I wanted the whole plot to be bigger – more drama, more consequences and more twists. I wanted Ivy to almost lose everything (including her values) and have her place at university threatened because of her involvement in the society (instead of randomly getting a first). Although there was a dramatic event at the end, it wasn’t fully explored and there were a lot of threads that didn’t tie together satisfactorily. I felt this event should have been placed earlier so we could see the fallout and how it affected Ivy, which could have brought in the other storylines (such as Martha’s past trauma and her professors’ strange focus on secret societies).

OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to fans of ‘A Room Called Earth’ by Madeleine Ryan, ‘Milk Fed’ by Melissa Broder, and ‘Ponti’ by Sharlene Teo. Honestly I struggled to think of comparisons with novels that have the same academic plot points, but I think these novels are all very similar in themes and general vibe. They’re character driven, with memorable atmospheres, and they all make you think rather than giving you an easy, linear story.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster UK for my #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. ‘These Mortal Bodies’ was published on 17^th July 2025 and is available to buy now. You can purchase it (with a discount) on my bookshop.org page.