Review of Gilded Spirits by Amrit Kallar
Amrit Kallar’s Gilded Spirits (Brown Books Publishing Group, 2025) is a novel split between historical and contemporary speculative fiction. Set in California in two very different time periods, the interwoven narrative of two women going about their lives, which overlap in extraordinary ways, provided a gripping narrative!
The story begins with Emily in Gold Rush-era California as a young woman and follows her throughout her long life. It then picks up in the modern era with Meera, a young woman from India who comes to the United States in pursuit of her career. But Emily’s story is not over yet, as it turns out!
I found Emily’s story to be quite relatable and engaging. Wanting to see how and where her life would intersect with Meera’s kept me turning the pages. The descriptions of the setting in the earlier time period were also fantastic, and it was clear that the author has done her research into the era. I think the thing I disliked about Meera’s part of the storyline was that her job was achingly soul draining, and that fatigue impacted me while reading it. In that regard, I think it was quite vividly written as well, but it was perhaps too effective!
If you enjoy historical and contemporary fiction with some mild supernatural elements woven in, check out Gilded Spirits!
The author provided me with a copy of this book for review consideration.
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