Macmillan Publisher and Tor Publishing Group
Published October 21, 2025
“Girl Dinner!” boast TikTokers and memes across the internet. Boiled eggs, a handful of popcorn, charcuterie, and pickles sit in tiny portions on plates. What began as an online trend in 2023 soon had nutritionists expressing concern that it encouraged disordered eating among females. Olivie Blake, author of The Atlas Six trilogy, has taken this idea along with the impossible feminine ideals of girlbossing and trad wives, turned them upside down, chopped them into tiny pieces, and reframed them as satirical horror in her new novel Girl Dinner.
Nina, a college sophomore reeling from a freshman year that did not go as planned, seeks to join the most exclusive sorority on campus. Sloane, an adjunct professor at the same college, returns to work after taking time off to bond with her baby daughter, Isla. Her husband, Max, imagines himself a helpful partner, but proves in ways both big and small how far from reality this is; when Sloane forgets to lay out silverware, he retrieves a fork only for himself. “It was an indisputable fact that nobody made Sloane’s life more magical than Isla, and nobody made her more miserable than Isla, either. Though occasionally it felt like Max was vying competitively for the spot,” writes Blake.
Both women feel lost and hungry for connection, and they find it in The House, a multigenerational group of strong, successful women who somehow always manage have a sumptuous meal on the table. The phrase “I’ll send you the link” becomes a running joke, a refrain of modern sisterhood. The House pushes its members to examine the roles women play, how success, ambition, and motherhood come with the twin barbs of expectation and judgment. Blake deftly dissects the hollow promises of “girlbossing” and “having it all,” stoking a deep rage within both Sloane and Nina. “What even was a good woman? Sloane wanted uproariously to laugh. A good woman was just a good loser, because there was no way to win. You fall in love, you marry someone devoted and interesting, and bam, you still somehow turn into your mother and his mother and every mother since the dawn of time.”
The two protagonists mirror one another, one poised to begin her career, the other mired in the loneliness of new motherhood. The House nourishes them with camaraderie and ritual. Just when readers are ready to drink the Kool-Aid of Blake’s glossy satire, she wheels in the cannibalism.
Yes, the beautiful, successful women of The House owe their phenomenal success at least in part to ritualistic cannibalism. Though the satire can at times be laid on thick, Blake’s sharp wit and psychological insight make this twist feel like the next logical step for her characters. As in much of her work, there is perhaps an overabundance of philosophical musing and debate to wade through before the action truly begins. The shocking reveal and final twist arrive swiftly compared to the long buildup of internal conflict and power plays. Still, Blake’s incisive commentary on gender, ambition, and the price of success offers readers plenty to chew on, both figuratively and, in The House’s world, quite literally.
