James Nicoll Reviews

Bethany C. Morrow’s 2022 Cherish Farrah is a horror novel.

Teens Cherish Whitman and Farrah Turner have been best friends since they met in fourth grade. Their common ground is obvious: Cherish and Farrah are the only two black girls in their upscale neighborhood. However, their parents could not be more dissimilar. Farrah’s parents are Farrah’s biological parents. Cherish was adopted by a rich white couple.

Keenly aware that racial egalitarianism is at best a thin film over the bigoted reality, Farrah’s mother relentlessly disciplines Farrah. If mom has anything to do with it, Farrah is not going to be caught unawares when her white friends betray her, as they most likely will. Cherish’s parents, on the other hand, have wasted no effort ensuring that their darling daughter is as innocently self-absorbed and spoiled as any white girl of similar social status.

Farrah was betrayed, not by white friends, but by her parents. Job loss and financial mishaps cost the Turners their lavish home. Not wanting to worry Farrah with their woes, the Turners concealed their increasingly desperate straits until foreclosure forced exposure. Farrah did not take the loss of her beloved home well.

While Mr. and Mrs. Turner settle for renting, the Whitmans graciously host Farrah. After all, Farrah and Cherish are sisters! Almost. This suits Farrah quite well. Farrah has no intention of ever leaving the Whitman household.

It might astonish Farrah to learn why the Whitmans are so keen to offer Farrah a refuge. It will astonish the Whitmans to discover the degree to which they have underestimated Farrah’s intelligence, determination, and ruthlessness.

~oOo~

This is a horror novel but it’s not a supernatural horror novel. There are monsters, but all of them are humans doing human things (assuming oligarchs count as human).

The tale is told in the first person by Farrah, to whom all her actions seem perfectly sensible. Farrah liked being rich, she liked living in a mansion, and as Cherish and her family seem the most efficient means by which she can regain that which she is entitled, of course Farrah will use them as necessary. Hers is an inspirationally honed sociopathy that should serve her very well in life.

Spending an entire book inside the head of an amoral sociopath could be pretty unpleasant. Morrow makes Farrah more appealing by populating her novel with people who are even worse than Farrah. The reader might wonder why the Whitmans thought their plan was a good idea, and why they thought it would work. The answer may be that as rich white people it didn’t occur to them that failure was an option. Farrah’s mother never allowed Farrah the luxury of believing victory was assured.

Who will win between sociopaths who assume they must win and a sociopath who knows she can lose, has contingency plans, and practice at improvisation? The answer will surprise and delight you.

Cherrish Farrah is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).