There Is No Glitter Here: Gothic Horror and Transidentities in Hailey Piper’s All the Hearts You Eat

Trigger warnings for transphobia, deadnaming, unhealthy trauma responses, and cruel parental figures. 

The town of Cape Morning has its secrets, its rivalries, and its tragedies. The death of Cabrina Brite is one such tragedy. Found on the beach, either the victim of the tide or of her own hand, her death sends various town members on a journey that may bring about the end of the world. Ivory is the first person to come across the body when she goes out for her morning swim to Ghost Cat Island and she finds a note from Cabrina, but not, really, a suicide note. 

The lives of Ivory, Cabrina, and Cabrina’s best friends (Xi and Rex) will never be the same. 

Welcome to All the Hearts You Eat by Hailey Piper

Photo nabbed from TheNerdDaily.com

This novel swings in hard, reminding me heavily of the opening scenes of Twin Peaks. In fact, Cabrina Brite being compared to Laura Palmer becomes even more accurate as you continue in the story. You see how everyone in her life, including Ivory who only meets her after her death, has a perception of who Cabrina Brite is (in the case of her mother, who she is forced to be). The story becomes not about how she died, but who she was when she lived.

Ivory is a woman who is struggling with her own trauma - unable to keep a job or a home for long, she throws herself at unavailable men to make herself feel better, but feels trapped by their perception of her as a certain type of woman, one who doesn’t bring her emotions to the door and won’t embarrass them in public. She begins to see Cabrina haunting her and finds her way to Ghost Cat Island. 

There’s a lot of lore to this story, some of which leans on the feeling of otherness that transpeople can feel. Cabrina is forced to live a life in between, in a lot of ways. In between her parents, because her mother demands that she be the perfect son, instead of embracing who she is. In between her friends, who both love her dearly, but have very different feelings towards her and each other. In between Ivory’s trauma and the mystery of Cabrina’s death. 

I haven’t even begun to talk about how delightfully dark and gothic the setting for this novel is. A small town, beset by tourists most of the year, with its own hidden mysteries and things “We Just Don’t Talk About”, set next to the ocean (which is one of the biggest mysteries of all). The setting includes a vampire as an enemy for most (or, is she?) that completely rewrites the lore to fit the worlds in which our characters are brought. There is more fur, more teeth, and less attempts to fit in. Honey, as Ivory calls her, refuses to be anything less than the predator that she is. Ivory is drawn to her strength, but also to Honey’s acceptance of Ivory and all her flaws. 

Throughout the story, Cabrina Brite is revealed to be the tragic heroine of the story - beset by grief and depression caused by her mother trying to force her into the mold of a perfect son, desperately loving her friends, and finding that opening the door to evil in order to be who she is would be a betrayal. Her feelings towards her family and her friends are complex, tainted by the pain and isolation of being forced to watch both of her friends being accepted by their parents (and getting the gender affirming care/support they need). In the end, Cabrina shines brighter than any other character not because she is a perfect hero, but because despite her flaws, despite the pain inflicted on her, she tries to save the world.

There is so much to this novel and at times, it can be hard to tell whether the characters are awake or dreaming. There are points where I got frustrated with the characters for their self-centered thinking, but in the end, most of the characters are tragically, awfully human in their flaws and in their strengths. 

I recommend this if you like ghost stories, vampire tales, and novels of perception. Check out the author’s website for additional works of queer horror. 

And remember, when the door opens wide, and the bridge between worlds can be crossed, I shall be here with another recommendation, should you need it.