Literally, when Olivia visits the two different versions of Gallant, and more figuratively in the language and visuals of the story. Both its characters and the plot constantly move between those realities. Death is inevitable and Death can be banished. Gallant is a book that asks you to accept two realities at once. There’s a lesson about balance, the value of listening and the power of belonging somewhere in there, both obvious and hidden behind impossible walls. Gallant is a book like smoke running through cupped hands: you can’t really grasp it if you try too hard. It’s slow and yet I devoured it incredibly quickly. It’s a book filled with quiet hauntings and opposing truths. ⚠ Content and trigger warnings for ableism & ableist language, parental abandonment, child abuse & neglect, nightmares, blood depiction, death, knife violence and bullying ⚠ Quiet Hauntings I received a free ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Gallant is a quietly haunted and compulsively readable novel that explores death, balance, and the power of belonging. Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him? My review of Gallant Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant-but not. Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home-to Gallant. Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal-which seems to unravel into madness.

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