Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2023
320 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
Starling House is a gorgeous, modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.
I dream sometimes about a house I've never seen….
Opal is a lot of things―orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier―but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.
All she left behind were dark rumors―and her home. Everyone agrees that it's best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.
I should be scared, but in the dream I don't hesitate.
Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House―and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund―she can't resist.
But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur's own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.
In my dream, I'm home.
And now she'll have to fight.
Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.
"Starling House will no doubt take its place alongside fiction's most memorable haunted houses." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Harrow's mash-up of twisted fairy tales and Southern gothic fiction is a haunting story of longing, lies, and generational curses." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"Harrow's lyrical prose propels this contemporary Southern gothic, offering an atmospheric fairy tale with delightfully jagged-edged characters." –EW.com
"From Ten Thousand Doors of January to A Mirror Mended, Alix E. Harrow is a fantasy author who just does not miss. This magical, heartfelt haunted house tale is no different." ―Paste Magazine
"As sumptuous and romantic as it is sinister, Alix E. Harrow's foray into Southern gothic literature is a perfect book to ring in the start of spooky season." ―Polygon
"Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January is one of those books where people who've read it fall all over themselves to push into other readers' hands (I am one such person) and her growing legion of devoted readers will be happy to know that Starling House is a full-bore masterpiece." ―LitHub
This information about Starling House was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Alix E. Harrow is the Hugo Award winning author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, and various short fiction. Her Fractured Fables series, beginning with the novella A Spindle Splintered, has been praised for its refreshing twist on familiar fairy tales. A former academic and adjunct, Harrow lives in Virginia with her husband and their two semi-feral kids.
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