Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis is a debut historical fiction with paranormal happenings taking place in 1866 Paris. The tone is gothic. The theme evolves around a fairytale about two sisters the good one who spit gold and the bad one who spit frogs. The book makes you go back to forth on who is the good and bad sister. The book is told from two perspectives the older sister and the younger sister. This novel has a huge twist that changes the narrative that I liked. For a debut Spitting Gold is paced fairly well. There is a fair bit of repetition that was not needed, which slows the second half of the book down, but I was intrigued enough with what was going on that it didn’t hurt too bad. This novel has some good LGBTQ characters that were interesting in the time setting. The gothic and paranormal elements worked well. Since the two sisters are pretending to be mediums I found the tricks they used fascinating and seemed very plausible. The novel is half Nightmare Alley and half Wuthering Heights. I read Spitting Gold thanks to Netgalley’s spotlight on debut artists. Thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for a free copy in exchange for a review. Spitting Gold was published on May 14, 2024.

Plot Summary: Sylvie is a Baroness in 1866 Paris who seems to have it all when she’s visited by her long-estranged sister Charlotte who used to perform as fake mediums to scam for money. Their whole family is one of the scammers. Sylvie is happy to see her sister but also is banned from seeing her by her husband the Baron who helped the family escape a scandal years ago does not want his wife messing with medium business. But Charlotte lays out the plan and that their father is dying and could lose the house. The marks are the de Jacquinots: dysfunctional aristocrats who believe they are haunted by their great aunt, brutally murdered during the French Revolution. The aunt is rumored to have hidden a treasure that has still not been found. Charlotte and Sylvie will distract with the medium rituals while they search for treasure. But what if the ghost hunting the family is real and they start something they can not stop?

What I Liked: The cleverness of how the sisters faked the medium and all the tools they used for knocking on doors and other things. I like how gothic the tale felt, it reminded me a lot of Wuthering Heights not the story but the feeling of darkness beneath the surface. I loved all of part one and the twist to the story that changed everything. I loved the character of Mimi the French gay drag queen who knows all the secrets of a society that rejects him. His confidence and swagger were fun. The ending was good and pretty intense. I loved that the sisters’ relationship keeps getting compared to the sisters from the fairy tale that spit gold and the sisters that spit toads.

What I Disliked: Part 2 had a great twist and a good ending, but repeated too much over what happened leading up to the twist. I felt it focused too much on the father relationship that was summed up pretty well in part 1 I didn’t need multiple chapters on it I wanted to get back to the twist faster than the story did.

Recommendation: Spitting Gold is a solid debut for Carmella Lowkis, the story was pretty compelling and had me entertained. I had some issues with the repetition of scenes, which is something I’ve noticed in a lot of debut authors. Where Lowkis shines is the gothic feel of the story which I loved. I recommend you check out Spitting Gold.

Rating: I rated Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis 3.9 out of 5 stars.