Dark academia meets the war between women
Book Review: The Burning Library by Gilly MacMillan
The Burning Library by Gilly MacMillan
Published: November 18, 2025 by William Morrow
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Synopsis:
On a frigid, windswept day in Scotland’s Western Hebrides, Eleanor Bruton’s body is discovered on the shore. To her family Eleanor was an ordinary middle-aged woman. She made flower arrangements and plumped kneeler cushions at church. Little did they know she was harboring a dark and all-consuming secret: a scrap of fraying embroidery that seems worthless at first glance.
For more than a century two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn: The Order of St Katherine, devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows to exercise control. And the Fellowship of the Larks, determined to amass as many overt positions of power for women as possible…so long as their methods of doing so never come to light.
When Dr Anya Brown garners international attention for her translation of the cryptic Folio 9, she is handpicked by Diana Cornish, a professor and high-ranking member of the Fellowship of the Larks, to join the exclusive Institute of Manuscript Studies in St Andrews. Meanwhile at Scotland Yard, Detective Clio Spicer begins a private investigation into the death of Eleanor Bruton.
As all of them grow further entangled in this ancient web, circumstances are spinning wildly out of control and their lives may be in grave danger.
Rating:
Review:
I sought out this book based firstly on the cover. It’s very eye catching and drew me in. The synopsis was intriguing enough to draw me in further. I liked the idea of two competing groups of academic women in pursuit of the same historical artifact.
Unfortunately, this was a pretty gift that ended up being nothing more than an empty box. I found myself through this whole book just thinking “Why?”. Why do these women want this artifact? Why can they not get it themselves? What is it and why is it relevant? WHY DO THEY WANT IT???
I never got the answers to those questions. I still don’t even know what the artifact is! Nor do I know why they wanted it so badly. Just a vague explanation of empowering women across the world or something like that. Which, considering both of the groups pursuing this artifact were women, I had a hard time understanding why they were at war with each other over it. Surely the artifact being public would benefit both groups? I understand the differences in the group. One group believes that women are best empowered through the power of men, being the head that turns the neck as it were. The other group believes women should seek their own power without the assistance of men. But if the ultimate goal is power for women, shouldn’t you be on the same side? Not killing each other in sleepy little academic towns.
By the end, I found this book profoundly confusing. The author gave me no answers. But it gets an extra star for being very pretty and I liked Anya as a character.