Psychopomp and Circumstance

By: Eden Royce

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Shirley Jackson and Nebula Award finalist author Eden Royce pens a Southern Gothic historical fantasy story of a contentious funeral in her adult fiction debut.

"A tale of loss and hope and how the present can give way to new futures."—Kirkus Reviews

Phee St. Margaret is a daughter of the Reconstruction, born to a family of free Black business owners in New Charleston. Coddled to within an inch of her life by a mother who refuses to let her daughter live a life other than the one she dictates, Phee yearns to demonstrate she's capable of more than simply marrying well.

When word arrives that her Aunt Cleo, long estranged from the family, has passed away, Phee risks her mother's wrath to step up and accept the role of pomp—the highly honored duty of planning the funeral service. Traveling alone to the town of Horizon and her aunt's unsettling home, Phee soon discovers that visions and shadows beckon from every reflective surface, and that some secrets transcend the borders of life and death.

©2025 Eden Royce (P)2025 Spotify Audiobooks

Thank you

Thank you for creating a wonderful historical experience and creating characters with dignity beauty and honor but I thank most you for not using the slur African American 🌹

The author’s descriptive language.

I didn’t dislike anything about the story. It was very interesting and straight to the point.

Very quaint story

This was an unexpected and pleasant read that has a great messsage, vivid imagery, and quirky and culturally centered storytelling.