Study for Obedience

Sarah Bernstein’s novel is a darkly alluring exploration of power, guilt, and complicity. Narrated by an unnamed woman who moves to a remote northern country to care for her brother, the book unfolds in eerie, atmospheric prose that keeps the reader on edge. Bernstein probes the psychology of submission and the dynamics of otherness, as the narrator becomes entangled in the suspicions and prejudices of the local community. The narrative is unsettling yet hypnotic, raising questions about responsibility and inherited trauma. It is a work of taut, cerebral intensity.