Review of Femme Feral by Sam Beckbessinger

Ellie’s gone feral: she’s growing fur and going on late night rampages ending up on the other side of London without any recollection of what happened. A cat’s been murdered and eighty year old owner Brenda is determined to find out who did it. At work, Ellie’s hoping to be promoted to CEO of the tech company she’s spent years working at, only to be shunted to the side as a new employee becomes the big dog. Diagnosed as premenopausal, Ellie is furious at the world, raging at her never ending to do list. As a wife, mother, career for her father in law, workaholic, she can’t do it all. When the full moon shines she transforms and howls through the streets of London. No one is safe. Colleagues and cats alike.

I love metamorphosis novels and I’m always bloodthirsty for narratives on female rage. I was more invested in Ellie’s perspective, her werewolf transformation a metaphor for the menopause, all the unexpected and unexplainable changes happening to the body. The novel also explored female communities very well as Ellie found others like her, and the support the other women gave her was a tenderness to the violence and gore.

Published on 09.04.2026 by Bloomsbury

Reviewed by Victoria

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