Nocticadia

Nocticadia (2023), written by Keri Lake, takes place at a fictional Ivy League university, Dracadia University, in Maine. Lilia hopes to learn the truth about the unknown parasite that killed her mother—a parasite only studied at Dracadia. There, she develops an unexpected romance with her parasitology professor, Devryck Bramwell, a rude, handsome researcher with a complicated past whose family history will unspool many of the mysteries of Lilia’s past. Their intertwining storylines explore themes like Forbidden Romance and Its Consequences, The Impact of Past Trauma on Present Actions, and How Harmful Power Structures Shape Scientific Research.

Lake is an American author of several romance novels, many of which have gothic or fantastical twists. Lake’s books are self-published, and she has garnered a steady following, with some works making her a USA Today bestseller. She grows her fanbase through active engagement on social media.

This guide refers to the 2023 Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, child death, death by suicide, graphic violence, sexual violence and harassment, physical abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, suicidal ideation, mental illness, racism, gender discrimination, sexual content, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

In the 1750s, a commodore for the British Royal Navy, Lord Adderly, visits Dracadia, an island off Maine that once held both an Indigenous and colonial population. Both populations are now reported missing. There, Adderly and his crew experience mental distress and are mysteriously burned alive.

In the present, 20-year-old Lilia Vespertine sends her younger half-sister, Beatrix, or Bee, to check on their ailing mother, Francesca. She’s been aggressive due to a mysterious illness. Francesca tries to drown Bee, and Lilia fights her off. Before Francesca dies, black worms exit her nose and mouth and escape down the drain.

Four years later, Lilia recalls how the autopsy showed no signs of the parasitic worms; it noted that Francesca died from self-inflicted wrist wounds, something that Lilia is forced to accept despite her memory saying otherwise. Lilia studies medicine to discover her mother’s illness. Meanwhile, Bee attends a boarding school that pays special attention to her mental illness, which worsened following Francesca’s attempt on her life. Lilia prioritizes paying to keep her there despite their low income and the belief of Conner, Bee’s father and Lilia’s stepfather, that Bee doesn’t need help.

After writing a theoretical paper about black worms, Lilia’s professor recommends her to his alma mater, a prestigious school called Dracadia University. Lilia is offered a full scholarship for one semester, but she hesitates. She only accepts when her coworker Jayda pools money from the staff so that Lilia can cover the next few months of Bee’s tuition. Lilia is eager to escape Conner’s criminal friend, Angelo, who sexually harasses her and threatens to assault her when Conner isn’t there. Conner doesn’t believe her claims about this, but he supports her going to Dracadia so long as she helps with bills.

Meanwhile, Dracadia professor Devryck Bramwell partakes in the university’s powerful secret organization, the Seven Rook Society. A man accused of stealing Devryck’s research is sentenced to death. Days later, Devryck kidnaps a fugitive criminal, Mr. Barletta, and infects him with the parasite to research its effects. He also performs an autopsy on a woman killed by the worms; she attempted to murder the school provost, Dr. Lippincott, before succumbing to her illness.

Lilia befriends her dorm resident assistant, Mel, and Dr. Lippincott’s son, Spencer. The dean tells her that she has been entered into a senior course, parasitology, with Devryck Bramwell. She’s also taking an entomology course with Dr. Gilchrist, with whom Devryck has been having an affair. In her early classes, Lilia notes that Devryck is handsome and intelligent but incredibly rude. Gilchrist is upset when she learns that Lilia is in Devryck’s class. Unbeknownst to Lilia, Gilchrist is jealous of her, as Devryck recently ended their affair. Gilchrist is antagonistic toward Lilia for the rest of the semester.

Spencer frequently expresses interest in Lilia, which she respectfully rebuffs. Mel warns Lilia to stay away from Spencer, but Lilia brushes off her concerns. Lilia sees Gilchrist kissing Spencer and learns that Spencer’s relationship with his father is very bad.

Devryck continues his research on Barletta. The worms are called Noctisoma, and they release a toxin inside the host that can alleviate autoimmune diseases. However, the compound is unstable and finite. Noctisoma often spreads through infected moths, which the students study, but the moths don’t hold enough toxin for Devryck to utilize it effectively.

He needs to develop this toxin into a cure because he has a rare disease that causes life-threatening seizures. He explains to Barletta that his abusive father, Warren Bramwell, beat him severely enough to trigger this cognitive illness. His father was particularly hateful after Devryck’s twin brother, Caedmon, was kidnapped and held hostage in exchange for Warren’s research. When Warren refused, Caedmon’s ashes were sent back to the family.

Lilia performs work study in the university library and familiarizes herself with the historical texts. She reads about 1700s researchers who wore plague doctor masks—the same costumes as the Rooks—and the oppressed peoples they performed studies on. Noctisoma have existed on Dracadia for a long time, but nobody understands how the Indigenous populace lived so long with them. Lilia notices black rocks ground into the teeth of Indigenous people’s skulls.

Lilia learns that she is behind on tuition money at Bee’s school because of Conner. Her old coworker Jayda urges her to sell explicit content online for money, specifically at a place that pays for voyeuristic content. Lilia decides to film herself masturbating during one of Devryck’s “midnight labs” as they study the nocturnal, Noctisoma-infected moths at night. The research is private, and Devryck confiscates her phone when he sees that she’s filming. He privately discovers her sexual video and develops an attraction to her.

Devryck battles this attraction as he suffers complaints from a jealous Gilchrist and a power-hungry Lippincott, who is skeptical of Lilia. A scandal two years prior involved one of Devryck’s students, Jenny Harwick, who went missing; Devryck was wrongly accused of killing her. Lippincott defended him, if only because of the potential value of the Bramwells’ collective research. Warren researched the Noctisoma as well; however, his study resulted in six women dying by suicide and two women disappearing. One is the dead woman who attempted to kill Lippincott and was autopsied by Devryck.

Spencer invites Lilia to a gala, where the school raises research funds. Devryck defends Lilia there when she is sexually harassed by a wealthy donor. Later, she is drugged and falls unconscious after being followed by a figure in a plague doctor mask. Devryck brings her to his lab, and to avoid scandal—as he was caught on camera carrying a student away—Lilia blackmails him into accepting her as his paid lab assistant.

Fighting their growing attraction, they begin working together. Lilia is introduced by Mel to a small society called Anon Amos that investigates the school’s conspiracies. They have located files about Warren’s Noctisoma research, which reveal that one of the two missing women from the study was Lilia’s mother, whose real name was Vanessa. Gilchrist blackmails Lilia for information on Anon Amos and informs her that Lippincott is her real father. Spencer is someone else’s son, hence why Lippincott hates him.

After Lilia discovers that Devryck has been taking early versions of the Noctisoma toxin, the two become sexually intimate. As they grow closer, Lilia hears rumors of Devryck assaulting Spencer and Mel and sleeping with Gilchrist, though Lilia was with him at the time. When visiting the nearby village, Devryck has a seizure, and a local holistic shopkeeper offers a black rock tea made from rare stones in the island’s bay. Lilia makes the connection that these were the rocks in the Indigenous people’s teeth and that it stabilizes the effects of Noctisoma toxins, which is how the Indigenous people survived before being colonized.

Mel discovers that Lilia sold Anon Amos out and exposes Lilia and Devryck’s affair online. Lilia is expelled. When Devryck learns that Lilia has been sent home, he rushes to her apartment to get her. However, Angelo has already visited. Lilia is deeply concerned about Conner and Bee, as Angelo is wanted for questioning regarding the murder of a CEO and member of a different organization, the sadistic Schadenfreude. Barletta, who participated in the kidnapping of Devryck’s brother, Caedmon, also outed Angelo as the man who spearheaded the operation.

When Angelo appears, threatening to assault and kill Lilia, the trauma causes her to recollect her mother’s death: Lilia fought back and attempted to drown her, but Angelo arrived and finished the job. He was covering up the death for Lippincott, who originally sabotaged the Noctisoma study and let the Bramwells take the fall for it.

Lippincott had recently learned of Vanessa’s false identity as Francesca and ordered her killed. In the present day, he’s also sent Angelo to kill Lilia, having learned that she’s Vanessa’s daughter. Lilia barely fights Angelo off as Devryck arrives and brings her back to his childhood home. Devryck returns to the school for his research and Lilia’s things, and Lilia discovers Caedmon—traumatized but alive—in the mansion.

Caedmon dislikes that Devryck continues their abusive father’s research, though Devryck had little choice. Caedmon was tortured and held captive by the Schadenfreude for many years, having been sold to them by Angelo, and has returned to kill Lippincott for having him kidnapped in the first place. Lippincott wanted the acclaim and money from the research.

Gilchrist arrives with a digital copy of Warren’s research files for Devryck, and Caedmon attacks her, takes them, and forces Lilia to go to the school with them. There, Lippincott threatens to kill Devryck in exchange for his research, as Devryck’s actions have become a liability for the Rooks and the school. However, Spencer sends an email containing footage from the night Jenny went missing near Devryck’s lab. It shows Mel and Lippincott—who were having an affair—killing Jenny after she discovered the files that expose Lippincott’s actions and exonerate Devryck and his father.

Caedmon kills Lippincott, while Lilia is captured by the Rooks. Devryck is taken by the Rooks to a trial, wherein they say that Lilia will be tried for their crimes in exposing the Rooks. He argues that her discovery regarding the black rocks and Noctisoma toxin are essential to his research, so she should be kept alive. He also blackmails them with the files exposing Lippincott, who was a key member of the group. They allow Lilia to live, and she and Devryck continue working together, happily in love.