…the world seems especially chaotic and violent to me lately, like basic human decency has gone out the window. Most days I think I’m imagining it, but some nights I wake up with this certainty that it’s real, almost like there’s this slow leak of evil drifting out into the world tainting everything it touches.
I began to understand. I had stepped through a veil of sorts. Hildegard wasn’t like other places. There were rules here I didn’t understand. There were puzzles and clues and mysteries, and even though I felt an almost immediate and palpable sense of danger, some part of me was excited. I’d spent my entire life waiting for something to feel real, to feel important. I’d always wanted to feel at the center of something truly grand. And though I couldn’t say definitively that what was happening to me was necessarily grand, at least it was something.
As for the title, it turns out many of the things at issue are indeed knowable.
Post-grad Robin Quain is going through an identity crisis. She had a bad experience with a bf who had stolen her research to publish as his own. Then she is staying with her cousin, Paloma, in New York when her roomie goes suddenly suspicious and hostile, adding to her disorientation. Robin is looking into the possibility that the witch trials were actually an attempt to squash a long-standing established religion. She finds a clue that might lead her to a great discovery, a particular artifact. While doing this she learns that a woman has died and another, one linked to her research, has gone missing. Both were near a small college in Colorado, one that has an impressive library that might help her find what she seeks, one where the missing woman had taught, one where Robin is now accepted for a summer residency, and the game is on.
McCormick Templeman – Image from Lighthouse Writers
Hildegard College really does seem like a game site, not just to us as readers, but also to Robin as a character. The story has a video game feel, find hidden clues, pick up weapons/tools, advance a level, answer riddles, repeat. But she feels less than entirely safe, or welcomed.
I felt like a fawn isolated from the herd as a pack of wolves slowly surrounded it, closing in, preparing for the sacrificial feast.
The student body is gone for the season, leaving the staff, professors mostly. They have a surprising history of connection with the institution. They also seem a particularly unusual collection of brains and beauty.
There is more at stake than the particular bit of history/lore that she is delving into. There are mysteries aplenty in the Rockies, including just what the hell is going on at this very eccentric tucked-away place. It is definitely something significant. There are many hints of things that might be considered supernatural, paranormal, or mythical. (Templeman has a PhD in English lit with a specialty in 19th century horror, so this fits right in) Strange flashes of light and howls in the woods, death of a local from mauling by an unidentified animal, sirens that go off in the wee hours that are most definitely not sounded to warn of loose guard dogs, large horned beings that appear in bedrooms, an island to which no one is allowed access, you know, stuff. Is Robin being paranoid? Is she being paranoid enough? Templeman provides plenty of red-herring clues that keep us guessing. Witches? Vampires? Werewolves? Ghosts? What?
The book makes several mentions of the dubious line that divides science from magic, a major thematic thread.
“Witchcraft and science aren’t as far apart as we’d all like to believe. Some say the supernatural is just natural phenomena for which we don’t yet have a scientific explanation.”
…is it possible to perceive a glimmer of the factual and historical within mankind’s persistent attraction to the supernatural?
…where are we? Where are we really?” In the depth of the night, the trees seemed to be moving in our direction. Or was it something else? He kissed my forehead. “Oh, sweetie, we’re in the place monsters come from.” “Monsters are real?” “They always have been. You just need to venture far enough out into the woods.”
It is not just the line between science and myth that is at issue, but the line between reality and something other. Robin has a real identity challenge, which makes this a more complex than usual journey of self-discovery. It runs the risk of making Robin an unreliable narrator.
There is a lot to enjoy IN Atlas, particularly the research nuggets that enrich the narrative. Templeman fills us in on elements relating to Joan of Arc, Scottish witch trials, ancient religions, a full bouquet of botanical skinny (a PhD in Chinese medicine no doubt helps Templeman here), tarot-like divination, and plenty more.
Robin’s difficulties at the school include a newfound proclivity for somnambulism. This seemed a bit overused, as Robin flits between this and that state whenever it seems convenient for the story to progress. There is a struggle Robin goes through that, while key to our suspension of disbelief, I found less than persuasive. This knocked it down a notch for me. But overall, the genre bending in Atlas is fun. The suspense is palpable. The fodder for imagination is voluminous. The scientific and historical knowledge on display is colossal. Robin is an appealing academic every-woman, a truth-seeker in a challenging place, and thus we can engage with her. It is a knowable thing that Atlas is a fun read that will keep you googling references and flipping pages.
Sometimes no rescue is possible—not when you’re the problem.
Review posted – 10/17/25
Publication date – 10/07/25
I received an ARE of Atlas of Unknowable Things from Saint Martin’s Press in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.
This review is cross-posted on Goodreads. Stop by and say Hi!
=======================================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the Templeman’s personal, Instagram, and Goodreads pages
Profile – from her site
McCormick Templeman is a writer, editor, and scholar. A former professor, she has taught a variety of courses in English literature and creative writing. After graduating from Reed College (go Griffins) with a BA in English Literature, she went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University, and a PhD in English and Literary Arts from the University of Denver where, in addition to creative writing, she specialized in 19th century horror and depictions of medicine in literature.
Possessed of a lifelong interest in the healing arts, she worked for a time as a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist and ran her own clinic in New York City. She holds a doctorate in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine from Pacific College of Health and Science, a certificate in plant medicine from Cornell, and she is currently working toward becoming a clinical mental health counselor.
Interviews
—– Dennis James Sweeney’s Substack 2025 – Two Questions with McCormick Templeman, author of Atlas of Unknowable Thing
—–In Walks a Woman – Atlas of Unknowable Things by McCormick Templeman / Special Guest Dr. Rachel Feder – audio – 58 minutes
Items of Interest from the author
—–Eater of Books – Blog Tour Guest Post with McCormick Templeton, Author in Slasher Girls and Monster Boys in which MT lists her top ten under-the-radar horror films
—–Google – preview
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