OCTOBER 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Emily Tremaine's somber, contemplative tone is well suited to the author’s angst-ridden, frustrated protagonist, Gilda. When she takes a job as a church secretary, she becomes engrossed in the correspondence and mysterious death of her predecessor, Grace. Gilda begins leading a double life, concealing where she works from confused friends and family while attempting to hide that she's an atheist and a lesbian from her new colleagues. Tremaine's pacing and delivery capture Gilda's mounting anxiety as she spirals out of control, becoming increasingly preoccupied with death and disaster as her life crumbles around her. Tremaine’s characterizations bring heart to Gilda's well-meaning co-workers, complex family members, and unique friendships. K.S.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
05/03/2021
Runaway humor sustains an otherwise grim story in Austin’s exuberant debut. After a car accident in which 27-year-old Gilda breaks her arm, she visits an emergency room where she’s a frequent patient, then responds to an ad offering free mental health support at a church. There, a priest mistakes her for a job applicant, and she doesn’t correct him. After the interview, Gilda accidentally becomes a receptionist, taking over for the late Grace Moppet, who may have been the victim of a homicidal nurse. As the receptionist, Gilda rapidly falls prey to impostor syndrome, a problem she faced during her last job as a bookseller (“I didn’t really get 1984 and... I hate poetry”). Meanwhile, Gilda, an atheist and a lesbian, makes awkward attempts to masquerade as a good Catholic, mistaking communion wafers for crackers, trying to understand hymns, catechism, baptism, and the blessed sacrament of confession. The plot thickens as Gilda responds to emails from one of her predecessor’s friends as Grace. What starts out as genuinely bleak affair, with a depressed Gilda considering suicide, becomes a brisk story underpinned by a vibrant cast. Fans of Helene Tursten’s An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good will find much to enjoy. (July)
From the Publisher
"The perfect blend of macabre and funny." —Buzzfeed
“Hilarious, relatable, exasperating, and endearing. For all readers of fiction.” —Library Journal
“Exuberant.... a brisk story underpinned by a vibrant cast.” —Publishers Weekly
"Readers will find themselves rooting for the lovable but traumatized heroine." —Kirkus
"Gilda’s overwhelming questions about the nature of existence don’t go away; transformed by love, they turn into wonder instead.” —New York Times Book Review
"A luminous novel, whose humour, wisdom and tenderness shine through on every page. Emily Austin writes with a perfectly-gauged lightness of touch, deftly balancing perceptive musings on life and death with scenes that make you laugh out loud. I was utterly charmed by the kind-hearted but morbidly anxious Gilda, a woman whose self-conscious overthinking leads her into the oddest of predicaments. The way she ties herself in ever-tighter knots trying to fit in and please everyone is something we can all relate to. Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead hits that sweet spot: a fun, page-turner of a novel that engages both heart and head. I was captivated by it." —SARAH HAYWOOD, New York Times bestselling author of The Cactus
"Everyone in this book will touch your heart. Austin's writing is spare yet exciting, each page sparkles with keen observation about the fleeting nature of life, yes, but also our profound ability to make lasting impact on those around us. I already can't wait to read what she writes next." —STEVEN ROWLEY, New York Times bestselling author of The Guncle
"Gilda is the anxious queer hero who I didn't know that I needed, a delightfully weird reminder that we will one day turn to dust and that yes, this is depressing, but it's also what makes life beautiful, why it's important to say what we mean, do what we want, love as best as our crooked hearts will allow us to while we still can. I will read whatever Austin puts in front of me until I'm six feet under." —JEAN KYOUNG FRAZIER, author of Pizza Girl
"Introducing the bumbling, anxious, helplessly kindhearted heroine we all need right now. Gilda might be an accidental Catholic, a lapsed lesbian, and an inept receptionist, but she's awfully good at helping us reckon—hilariously, tenderly—with our impending deaths." —COURTNEY MAUM, New York Times bestselling author of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and Touch
“Gilda, Emily Austin’s anxious and endearing hero, is a dream. It’s impossible not to root for her as she navigates love, religion, mental health and everything in between. Too often our heroes are bigmouths who take up outsized space in the world. Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead redefines bravery, giving comfort to those who, like Gilda, struggle mightily with big hearts in a world that, to paraphrase the great Margaret Atwood, is full of bastards trying to get you down. Turn to any page in this lovely debut and you’ll meet a tsunami of joy.” —ANDREW DAVID MACDONALD, bestselling author of When We Were Vikings
"Anxious death-obsessed lesbians unite! I cackled and cringed in recognition while following the exploits of Gilda, who is plagued by intrusive thoughts about death and the absurdity of the human condition. Emily Austin is a unique and wry writer, and her debut novel manages to be both hilarious and profound, a winning combination." —CELIA LASKEY, author of Under the Rainbow
"My god - this book starts with a literal bang and keeps on going, straight through the heart of American anxiety, exploring the self-imposed experience of being a terrified human in a world with other terrified humans. It’s so vivid and so good.” —AMBER SPARKS, author of And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories and Other Revenges
"There's some strange magic at play here. A book about the anxiety of being someone else that possesses a genuine warmth and comfort? A book about death and depression that's laugh-out-loud funny? A book written in straightforward unadorned prose that nonetheless feels entirely distinctive? I don't know how Emily Austin does what she does, and honestly I don't care. I just want more." —SEAN ADAMS, author of The Heap
"As a queer woman whose brain can be a terrifying place, I devoured this novel about a panic-ridden lesbian who hides her sexuality to work at a Catholic Church. While the narrator is anxious beyond measure, the prose is self-assured—brisk and effortless, moving through time and space with ease. At its core, the novel is about the fragility of human life, kept fresh with an intriguing mystery and subtle moments of tenderness. Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a dreary truth but a delightful read." —Anna Dorn, author of Vagablonde
“We don’t deserve an author as insightful and empathetic as Emily Austin. Through the inner dialogue of Gilda, our painfully human heroine, Austin connects us with the best and worst parts of being a person while reminding us that even our darkest moments can lead to extraordinary revelations. I missed Gilda as soon as I finished the last page, and am already counting down to Austin’s next book.” —ANNE T. DONAHUE, author of Nobody Cares
"For fans of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Halle Butler, this is a darkly funny, surprisingly tender, and weirdly charming coming-of-age novel about a young woman with so much anxiety she'd rather lie than risk hurting anyone's feelings. A comedic masterpiece of conflict-avoidance, I absolutely loved this book." —LEIGH STEIN, author of Self Care
“Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a fresh and funny debut with a quirky deadpan narrator you can’t help rooting for. Her wry and endearing voice springs from every page as you turn them faster and faster. Bravo, Emily Austin! Comically brilliant.” —TERRY FALLIS, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
"What an absolutely gorgeous book. Funny about death, real about anxiety, witty about the things that worry us the most, with the most endearing kind-hearted cast of characters." —EMMA GANNON, author of Olive
Library Journal
04/01/2021
DEBUT Gilda is depressed, and panic attacks send her to the local ER so often that she is on a first-name basis with the janitor. When she loses her job for failing to show up, her lack of money becomes a problem. A flyer offering mental health support takes her to a Catholic church, where she is mistaken for an applicant for the position of church secretary. The previous secretary, Grace, has died recently and might have been murdered. Gilda takes the job and, while catching up on the church's email, finds messages from Grace's friend Rosemary. She can't bring herself to tell Rosemary that Grace is dead, so she begins sending emails impersonating Grace. Then she decides to investigate Grace's death and ends up stalking the parish priest and an elderly parishioner—strange behavior that makes her a person of interest in the police investigation and lands her in jail. In the end, though, Gilda is exonerated and is able to resurrect her life. VERDICT Austin uses seasons in the church calendar to identify stages in Gilda's journey, moving from Advent to Easter as she captures the essence of Gilda's angst and redemption. Along the way, her characters are hilarious, relatable, exasperating, and endearing. For all readers of fiction.—Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
OCTOBER 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Emily Tremaine's somber, contemplative tone is well suited to the author’s angst-ridden, frustrated protagonist, Gilda. When she takes a job as a church secretary, she becomes engrossed in the correspondence and mysterious death of her predecessor, Grace. Gilda begins leading a double life, concealing where she works from confused friends and family while attempting to hide that she's an atheist and a lesbian from her new colleagues. Tremaine's pacing and delivery capture Gilda's mounting anxiety as she spirals out of control, becoming increasingly preoccupied with death and disaster as her life crumbles around her. Tremaine’s characterizations bring heart to Gilda's well-meaning co-workers, complex family members, and unique friendships. K.S.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-06-02
An atheist lesbian finds herself working as a receptionist at a Catholic church.
Unemployed and riddled with anxiety, 20-something Gilda impulsively responds to an ad offering free mental health services at a Catholic church. When she arrives, Father Jeff assumes she’s there for a job interview, since he needs to replace the recently deceased receptionist, an old woman named Grace, and Gilda doesn't correct him. Much to her surprise, she gets the job. Her avoidant tendencies and oddball solutions are made extremely evident when she continues an email correspondence with Grace’s old friend rather than share the bad news of her death. Gilda's internal monologue is weighed down with meditations on death and crippling imposter syndrome. Some readers will find it hilariously relatable while others might find it superfluous and aggravating. Gilda’s ignorance when it comes to the rituals of the Catholic Church and her bumbling attempts to blend in at work are some of the funniest passages in this dark but funny novel (“I am starting to doubt my atheism because this might be proof that God exists and hates me”). An additional layer of intrigue comes around halfway through the novel when the police begin investigating Grace’s death, further complicating Gilda’s situation. The secondary characters add lightness to the story despite Gilda's constant thoughts of death, offering a reprieve from her internal monologue.
Readers will find themselves rooting for the lovable but traumatized heroine.
