Now available in the UK
from Verve Books.

Finalist for the Locus Award

**A Vulture Best Fantasy Novel of 2022**

The Saturnalia carnival marks three years since Nina walked away from Philadelphia’s elite Saturn Club—with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. In doing so, she abandoned her closest friends and her chance to climb the social ladder. Since then, she’s eked out a living by telling fortunes with her Saturn Club tarot deck, a solemn initiation gift that Nina always considered a gag but has turned out to be more useful than she could have ever imagined.For most, the Saturnalia carnival marks a brief winter reprieve for the beleaguered people of the historic city, which is being eroded by extreme weather, a collapsing economy, and feverish summers—whose disease carrying mosquitos are perhaps the only thing one can count on. Like Thanksgiving or Halloween, Saturnalia has become a purely American holiday despite its pagan roots; and nearly everyone, rich or poor, forgets their troubles for a moment.For Nina, Saturnalia is simply a cruel reminder of the night that changed everything for her. But when she gets a chance call from Max, one of the Saturn Club’s best-connected members and her last remaining friend, the favor he asks will plunge her back into the Club’s wild solstice masquerade, on a mysterious errand she cannot say no to.

Tonight, Nina will put on a dress of blackest black, and attend the biggest party of the year. Before it’s over, she will discover secret societies battling for power in an increasingly precarious world and become custodian of a horrifying secret—and the target of a mysterious hunter. As Nina runs across an alternate Philadelphia balanced on a knife’s edge between celebration and catastrophe, through parades, worship houses, museums, hidden mansions, and the place she once called home, she’s forced to confront her past in order to take charge of her own—and perhaps everyone’s—future.

Praise

“A heady mix of the most terrifying elements of our troubled past and inevitable future; an eerie, propulsive novel.”
—Carmen Maria Machado

“Stephanie Feldman’s Saturnalia achieves a lifetime in one night: The story is both a suspenseful thriller populated by magic and money, and a sharp look into the heart of young people coming of age in a slow apocalypse. Brilliant and fast paced, with enough beauty and hope to ease a troubled evening’s passage.”
—Fran Wilde, double Nebula award winning author Updraft, Riverland, and the Gemworld series

“This short novel packs a powerful, fever-dreamy bite. On one hand, Feldman’s striking novel is an unblinking side-eye at our apocalyptic near-future. On the other, it’s a soaring dark fantastic romp full of alchemy, blood, and life. Pick up this book and party like it’s Saturnalia.”
—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Pallbearers Club

“Mesmeric and elegiac, Saturnalia hits like a good tarot reading: it raises the hairs on the back of your neck, and lingers for a long time afterward “
—Alix E. Harrow, NYT-bestselling author of Starling House

“If an elegy was a song of hope, it might be this book, and it’s haunted me in all the best ways since I finished it.”
—Hazel Beck, author of Small Town, Big Magic

“Saturnalia is a tense, supernatural tour through a magic-bent, paganized Philadelphia — that also manages to be heartfelt and beautifully written. I wolfed this down, and Feldman’s talent left me spinning. Don’t miss this.”
—Daryl Gregory, award-winning author of Spoonbenders

“Saturnalia is a topsy turvy adventure of magic, science, and the lengths humanity will go to in order to obtain power and acceptance. There is so much mayhem and beauty in the pages of this intricately crafted novel. It feels like a carnival ride you’ll keep coming back to, no matter the price. I devoured this book, enjoying every delicious, unsettling bite.” — Christina Rosso owner of A Novel Idea Bookstore and author of Creole Conjure

“Beautiful, rich, evocative. A lush, glittering mystery. Feldman’s expertly rendered novel is brimming with magic, alchemy, and Philadelphia. Once you enter Saturnalia’s world of masks, secret societies, and power, you’ll find yourself holding your breath until the very end.”
—Sarah Rose Etter, author of The Book of X

“Nina is an unforgettable narrator, and I loved every twisty turn in her thrilling journey to find safety and meaning in a twilight future where everything might be lost, but some things still matter.”
—Sam J. Miller, Nebula Award winning author of Blackfish City and The Blade Between

Reviews

“Saturnalia is both dazzlingly inventive and full of spine-tingling menace.”
—Charlie Jane Anders, The Washington Post

“A bewitching fantasy thriller… Feldman brings impressive richness and depth to both Nina’s emotional evolution and the masterful worldbuilding. This is sure to win the author many fans.”
—Publishers Weekly

“[A] thrill for readers. Feldman conjures a near-future version of the U.S. entranced by mutual aid organizations–turned–secret societies and caught in a slow-burn environmental catastrophe that’s unsettlingly plausible, and her depiction of the aftermath of sexual assault is complicated in its rage and compassion. The novel’s pacing is electric, its worldbuilding seamless, and the magic that slowly reveals itself feels truly strange and captivating—a considerable feat.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Saturnalia is a twisted, ethereal dispatch from a climate change point of no return… The novel revels in absurdities, especially the insatiability of those with money and power, even as indulgence ensures a faster arrival at their ends. It exposes the dark sides of glamour and the blind spots of dark magic… Saturnalia is a piquant, eerie, and alarming tale.”
—Foreword (starred review)

“Tense and suspenseful, Saturnalia features strong world building and a fully realized heroine.”
—Booklist

“Saturnalia quickly unfolds as a suspenseful supernatural tale, eventually involving ancient alchemy, a scrying mirror, a homunculus, an ominous masked stranger who seems to be stalking Nina, and a fearsome monster called a Mandragora… As much as we might find her overnight odyssey fraught with danger—there are some generally scary moments and one disturbing bloodbath—we’re equally intrigued by Nina’s backstory and her possible future. Saturnalia draws freely on traditions of horror, apocalyptic fiction, and alchemical fantasy in a way that makes us suspect those lines were never really there in the first place.”
—Locus Magazine

“Stephanie Feldman writes with evocative prose, immersing readers in the action and making them part of the narrative through her startling, filmic descriptions… Nina’s character is captivating… the more the narrative progresses, the more charismatic and compelling she becomes… Part horror, part dystopia, part magical realism, and part social commentary, Saturnalia defies genre, but it is dark, disturbing and totally perfect for a winter read.”
—My Weekly (UK)

Recommended by:

The Guardian, The Best Recent Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

“An unusual blend of thriller, alchemical fantasy and climate apocalypse, it’s a wild, entertaining ride.”

Vulture, The Best Fantasy Novels of 2022

“[A]n engrossing, upsetting vision of the future that’s at once grim and wondrous — a magical feat in and of itself.”

Glamour Magazine (UK), The Best New Books of October 2023

“[T]he month of October demands that gothic, autumnal read and Saturnalia is it… This has it all: magic, mystery, a fierce female protagonist, and a fast paced plot that will keep you turning the pages.”

Tor.com: The 30 Most Anticipated SFF Books for the Rest of 2022

“[W]onderfully weird and chaotic and sexy and tinged with magic. It’s definitely a page-turner, and should be on the list for anyone who likes a little bit of romantic surrealism with their funhouse mirror dystopia.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: Best New Books to Read in October

“Those lucky enough to attend a sold-out reading by members of the famed Claw authors enclave came back buzzing about this wild novel set in a shadowy, fantastical Philadelphia. I’m happy to say Saturnalia was worth the wait. Feldman spins a web of intrigue and wonder across a city beset by dark powerbrokers, climate upheaval, deadly mosquitos and lavishly costumed pagan social clubs.”

Crime Reads: The Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2022

“Taking place over one evening, this book should be devoured quickly, like the sinful treat that it is.”

Buzzfeed News: 17 Recent And Upcoming Books From Indie Publishers You Need To Read

“[As] the night unfolds [Nina] is entangled in a web of deceit, power dynamics, and dangerous alchemy. There are only so many hours before the sun breaks against the horizon, and even on the darkest night of the year, time runs short. As Nina races against the clock and occult forces, she finds hope in friendship and an unexpected magic… Enchanting.”

Bustle: Best New Books of October 2022

Lit Hub: October’s 8 Best SF and Fantasy Books

Tor.com: Can’t Miss Indie Press Speculative Fiction for September and October 2022

Metro Philly: Give the Gift of Philadelphia Music and Literature

“[A]n eerily spine-tingling novel about carnival fortune tellers, private social clubs and a surprising clash of worlds.”