Shiva

by Emily Ruth Verona

A brother and a sister living in alternate timelines each grapple with mourning in the aftermath of the other's death.

Genres: Novella, Fiction

124 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2026

About the author

Emily Ruth Verona is the author of the novel Midnight on Beacon Street, published by Harper Perennial in January 2024. Her ghostly novella, Shiva, is due out from Dark Matter Ink in 2026. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Cinema Studies from the State University of New York at Purchase. In 2014 she won the Pinch Literary Award in Fiction. She is a Bram Stoker Award nominee, a Rhysling Award Finalist, a Jane Austen Short Story Award Finalist, and a Luke Bitmead Bursary Finalist. Previous publication credits include fiction and poetry featured in several anthologies as well as magazines such as The Pinch, Lamplight Magazine, Mystery Tribune, Black Telephone Magazine, The Ghastling, and Nightmare Magazine. She lives in New Jersey with a very small dog.

Reviews

[Jessica]

4.5⭐️

WOW loved this story, the format, and the writing. Devoured in 2 sittings (could have been 1 but LIFE)

Each chapter is a day of Shiva, and within each day we go through a mix of our 2 characters, siblings Eva/Evie and Thomas through their viewpoint and narration.

There was an accident, both of them are grieving, but both of them are still alive- WHAT IS GOING ON?!

The suspense was killing me, and the writing made it so easy and effortless to plow through. I can’t wait to see what else Emily writes and most def a fan!

Thanks to NetGalley, Dark Ink, and Emily for the advanced copy of this book. My review is left voluntarily and all thoughts and opinions are of my own.

[E W]

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an eBook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Shiva has a fascinating and ambitious premise. The concept of siblings existing in alternate realities—each alive in one world while the other has died—is deeply compelling and rich with emotional possibility.

Emily Roth Verona writes beautifully. The prose is poetic and thoughtful, and there is clear care in the language. The mechanics of the alternate realities are clever and well imagined, especially as the rules of their connection begin to unfold.

However, despite the strength of the concept and the elegance of the writing, I remained emotionally disconnected from the story. The dual perspectives often felt too similar, and even when the realities finally intersected in meaningful ways, I found myself appreciating the cleverness more than feeling the emotional weight.

By the final scene—clearly intended to be powerful—I unfortunately felt very little. For a story built around grief, loss, and alternate existence, I was hoping for a deeper emotional resonance that never fully arrived for me.

That said, I truly admire the author’s prose and ambition. I would absolutely consider reading future work by her, as there is undeniable talent here. This particular story simply didn’t move me in the way I had hoped.

[Danielle Robertson]

"It shouldn't surprise me. It shouldn't it shouldn't it shouldn't. But we were always going to end like this."
SHIVA is a gut-punch of a novella. Told in alternating POVs, siblings Evie and Thomas navigate a new reality without each other, until Thomas (who Evie believes is deceased) shows up at her apartment and tells her that she's the one who's died. SHIVA is a raw examination of grief, pain, responsibility, and devotion, despite it all. Verona's prose is sharp, her imagery startling and visceral. The final pages will stick with me for a long, long time.

[Manda]

Interesting and quick, I wish there was more details/understanding and resolve but for a novella it was good!! It felt a bit flat up until the last 1/4, but I did like the two different POVs, I wish we learned more about the accident and how they got into this position, as well as what drives the characters to act the way they do. Also, did the ending really do anything ???? I don’t know what the “terrifying truth” mentioned in the blurb is. I have many many questions I would like to ask

[Julia]

2.5 - I so enjoyed the writing in this novella and I found that to be the most captivating thing. I would most likely read something else by the author for the writing alone.

Otherwise, I wasn’t wowed by this. I felt very little for both Eve and Thomas (who are very much the same character) and the plot fell flat based on the synopsis. I was really hoping to get more out of this.

[Ai Jiang]

A big thank you to the publisher for an ARC of the book!

SHIVA is a startling exploration of grief, guilt, and spite through reverie, body horror, and unreliable narrators, unpacking a complex sibling relationship centred around what has been left unfinished.

[Anna]

Emily Roth Verona have an elegance in her writing.

This novel brings you a complex sibling relationship mixed with grief and body horror.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

[Ivy Grimes]

This is deep and dark, a psychologically rich story that I enjoyed getting lost in. I recommend!

[Marguerite Turley]

This was a fascinating look at grief. Told from two different POV (a brother and a sister), we are left wondering who's story is the real one, or are they both false? And that twist at the end? I love an unreliable narrarator, and this one gave me two. Two facinating characters that were both deeply troubled people, I loved getting into their head and living through their voices. Emily is a fantasic writer, and this one made her talents shine.