Immersions

A Most Anticipated Book of 2026 from LitHub

Black Swan meets Bluebeard in this novel of sisterly rivalry and obsessive love set in the New York City dance scene

Frances’s older sister Charley was a star of the modern dance world. But just as she was ascending, she fell in love with Johnny, an enigmatic trust fund artist, and married him. A few years into their turbulent marriage, Charley mysteriously leaves her dance company and joins an enclosed convent in Provence. Much to the shock of her family, she changes her name to Sister Anne and cuts off contact with the outside world.

Frances, a dancer herself, grew up in the shadow of her brilliant sister and is suddenly unmoored without her. From their first uneasy meeting, Frances has distrusted Johnny. Now, she is certain he had something to do with her sister’s abrupt abandonment of her art and family. When Frances discovers that Johnny has returned to New York, she reaches out to him, looking for answers and seeking confrontation. The two plunge into an ambiguous intimacy—diving ever deeper, as each tries to unlock the other's secrets. A slender and twisted tale of sexual coming-of-age and of the deep bonds of lust and loyalty, Immersions asks how we are made—and unmade—by desire.“Kyle McCarthy is a phenomenal writer of psychological depth and suspense. Immersions grips you with electric intensity.”—Justin Torres

“This novel moves with the stylish swagger of the contemporary even as it sounds the deepest trenches of myth, and it kept me so utterly immersed that I lived more fully in its world than my own.”—Leslie Jamison

“Ballet can make girls into gods, but at what cost? In beautiful and lively prose, Immersions pushes its young narrator to open her body in an effort to find herself.”—Darcey Steinke

“Gripping, dark, and more than a little sexy.”—LitHub

“Undeniably beautiful writing.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A gorgeously written, daring novel of sisters and obsession, Immersions is sexy, shocking, and, yes, utterly immersive: a dark enchantment.”—Michelle Huneven Kyle McCarthy is the author of  the novel Everyone Knows How Much I Love You, and her fiction and essays have appeared in Best American Short Stories, American Short Fiction, n+1, and elsewhere. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.