Gothic Horror, Speculative Fiction and the Haunted House (new titles for 2022)
As a collective “we" of human beings we are a little bit obsessed with the haunted house motif. Sophie has more of a grip on this element within Gothic fiction than I do (see: her brilliant Masters dissertation) but I have my own two penneth on why that might be.
The idea of “home” or “home-owning” is a basic need. A place to call our own. Somewhere to come back to, somewhere to make a family nest, a shell to clatter around in, a box to hide from a storm.
So the idea that someone, or something, might try to disrupt this safe, and often sacred, space is horrifying.
The house is the one place we can truly be ourselves (while also recognising that many do not have this basic freedom either, and that is a horror of its own) so to be denied that can have a detrimental effect on our mental and physical health. It restricts our ability to lead a full and satisfying life.
And maybe we’re beginning to resonante more strongly with the symbolism of it, after being shut inside for months.
The haunted house is a device used in Gothic, Horror, and other speculative fiction to great effect when done right. I really enjoy seeing how it can be utilised differently each time.
So, here’s a batch of books releasing in 2022 that has a haunted house vibe. (Make sure you’re doors and windows are locked before reading… and maybe with the lights on?)
‘Belladonna’ by Adalyn Grace - 23rd August - Hodder & Stoughton
“For as long as Signa Farrow has been alive, the people in her life have fallen like stars . . .
Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-being – and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy.
Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger, and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.
Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer, though, is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful – and more irresistible – than she ever dared imagine.”
We love a dark and gloomy house. We love a restless spirit. We love a more flamboyant gothic plot (Death? Hello? Yes, this is dog). I’m really excited for this release, and it doesn’t hurt that the cover is stunning.
‘How to Sell a Haunted House’ by Grady Hendrix - 12th July EBOOK - Titan
“Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.
When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before her parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.
Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.”
This title won’t be out in hardback in the UK until January 2023, according to current publisher information. But Grady Hendrix fans can snap up the e-book this summer. I love the humour and the creativity of this author’s titles.
‘Devil House’ by John Darnielle - 7th April PAPBERBACK - ScribeUK
Gage Chandler is descended from kings. That's what his mother always told him.
Now, he is a true crime writer, with one grisly success--and movie adaptation--to his name, along with a series of subsequent lesser efforts that have paid the bills but not much more. But now he is being offered the chance for the big break: To move into the house--what the locals call "The Devil House"--in which a briefly notorious pair of murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected 1980s teens. He begins his research with diligence and enthusiasm, but soon the story leads him into a puzzle he never expected--back into his own work and what it means, back to the very core of what he does and who he is.
I feel like if you’re offered the chance to stay in a notoriously haunted and spooky house you just say “thanks for thinking of me, but I’m going to have to pass”. This gives me Amityville Horror and Plain Bad Heroine vibes, but with a more masculine energy perhaps? I’m intrigued.
‘Gallant’ by V. E. Scwab - 8th March HARDBACK - Titan
Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source.
Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.
Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.
Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?
I’ve actually not read a Schwab book before, but this might be the one that does it!
‘Lavender House’ by Lev A. C. Rosen - 18th October - Forge Books
Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret—but it's not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in.
Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept—his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.
Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He's seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn't extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy—and Irene’s death is only the beginning.
When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.
I really enjoy this author’s writing, having read YA titles, so I’m very interested to read this different direction.
‘The Hacienda’ by Isabel Cañas - May - Bantam Doubleday (Berkley US)
In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.
But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.
When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?
Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will help her.
Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.
Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.
There concept is so rich, and the cover takes my breath away. I very much need to read this book.
‘What Moves the Dead’ by T. Kingfisher - 18th October - Titan
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
This is a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and that, quite frankly, is all I need to know. Sold.
I know there must be more. I tripped over ‘What Moves the Dead’ by accident after I’d already collated the other titles, so if you know of any please tell me!
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Happy reading!
Written by Sarah
