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Wilda Hughes is a reader and writer with a deep appreciation for speculative fiction. She currently resides in the southern United States and has traveled extensively.
By drawing on her lived experiences and her fascination with religious cults, mass movements and history, she crafts a powerful debut novel. Her narrative speaks to the darkness of the current state of humanity in a way that makes her work hard to put down.
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite
The Book of Seila by Wilda Hughes is a fierce, emotionally charged dystopian novel that doesn’t pull its punches. In a near-future theocracy known as the Covenant States, Ruby Lambert lives in hiding, having escaped a brutal redemption camp. But when her sister is accused of murdering her husband, Ruby surfaces to stage a daring rescue. What follows is a relentless trek through a fractured society warped by fundamentalist doctrine, where scripture is twisted into weapons and loyalty is measured in blind obedience. The escape attempt goes sideways, separating the sisters and plunging Ruby into a gauntlet of betrayals, resistance hideouts, and chilling indoctrination. As the story unfolds, it becomes not just a fight for survival, but a journey of reclamation, truth, selfhood, and the right to resist.
Author Wilda Hughes ignites a fire in the bellies of her readership when Ruby comes to town. Ruby Lambert is a powerhouse protagonist who bursts onto the page with brilliant dialogue and atmospheric description. She’s bruised, fierce, and painfully real, and I was constantly on edge, fearing what fresh horror the Covenant might unleash on her next. But what stayed with me was the emotional core of the story and how confidently it’s penned, showing the love between sisters, the aching cost of freedom, and the resilience forged from facing fears. Hughes’s world-building is disturbingly plausible, too, painting a future only a few wrong turns away, and that is important reading for anyone right now. Overall, The Book of Seila is a riveting, urgent read for anyone drawn to stories of resistance, survival, and what it means to fight for the ones you love in the face of indoctrinated cruelty. I would certainly recommend it.
