A Good House for Children: A Novel

by Kate Collins

Overview

"A feminist gothic that evokes Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House." — New York Times Book Review

Once upon a time Orla was: a woman, a painter, a lover. Now she is a mother and a wife, and when her husband Nick suggests that their city apartment has grown too small for their lives, she agrees, in part because she does agree, and in part because she is too tired to think about what she really does want. She agrees again when Nick announces with pride that he has found an antiquated Georgian house on the Dorset cliffs—a good house for children, he says, tons of space and gorgeous grounds. But as the family settles into the mansion—Nick absent all week, commuting to the city for work—Orla finds herself unsettled. She hears voices when no one is around; doors open and close on their own; and her son Sam, who has not spoken in six months, seems to have made an imaginary friend whose motives Orla does not trust.

Four decades earlier, Lydia moves into the same house as a live-in nanny to a grieving family. Lydia, too, becomes aware of intangible presences in the large house, and she, like Orla four decades later, becomes increasingly fearful for the safety of the children in her care. But no one in either woman’s life believes her: the stories seem fanciful, the stuff of magic and mayhem, sprung from the imaginations of hysterical women who spend too much time in the company of children.

Are both families careening towards tragedy? Are Orla and Lydia seeing things that aren’t there? What secrets is the house hiding? A feminist gothic tale perfectly suited for the current moment, A Good House for Children combines an atmospheric mystery with resonant themes of motherhood, madness, and the value of a woman’s work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063291027
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/04/2023
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	24,550
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Kate Collins is a writer of long-form and short fiction. From West Cork, Ireland, she now lives and works in Oxfordshire. A Good House for Children is her debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

05/08/2023

Collins draws on the folk horror trend for her twisty gothic debut about a haunted house in England. The story develops from two parallel plot threads, both centered on the Reeve, a sprawling 19th-century mansion on the Dorset coast, feared by locals due to a history of children drowning in a pond on the property. In 1976, Londoner and recent widow Sara Robinson moves to the Reeve with her four kids and their nanny, Lydia. Four decades later, artist Orla McGrath and her husband Nick move from Bristol to the Reeve with their two young children, hoping the change of scenery will help break their young son Sam out of his voluntary mutism. Members of both households experience the Reeve as a prototypical creepy old house—they hear disembodied voices and footsteps and glimpse spectral figures. In both timelines, the story builds to a traditional Midsummer celebration, which a local woman tells Lydia is meant to placate mean fairies, ones who “curdle the milk, steal the children.” It’s here that Collins suggests who’s haunting the house and why. Along the way, she skillfully laces her narrative with clues that suggest the events unfolding are not as straightforward—or linear—as they seem. This one is sure to connect with fans of the weird and macabre. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency. (July)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2023-04-24
Lives and minds unravel in this dual-timeline gothic horror debut.

English painter Orla McGrath and her husband, Nick, are residing in Bristol with their 4-year-old son, Sam, and infant daughter, Bridie, when Sam stops speaking. Doctors diagnose selective mutism and counsel patience, but domineering Nick declares that a scenery change will help and buys The Reeve, a sprawling, centuries-old home on a remote Dorset cliffside. The patchy cell and internet service worry Orla, as she’ll be alone and carless during the week while programmer Nick stays in the city for work, but Nick insists the isolation will be good for her and her art. That initially proves true, though the atmosphere quickly turns disquieting. Phantom footsteps sound, objects appear and disappear, doors open by themselves, and Sam draws shadowy figures he indicates are friends. Nick refuses to move, however, despite spending more and more time away. Forty years earlier, London nanny Lydia Price relocates to The Reeve when her newly widowed boss, Sara, decides she and her four kids need a fresh start. Though inexplicable phenomena vex Lydia from the outset, including disembodied voices, invisible children’s playmates, and dying birds, Sara scornfully dismisses her concerns. Lydia would love to leave but can’t bring herself to abandon her young charges to the house or their increasingly distant mother. Collins skillfully intercuts the two storylines, making clever use of structure to maximize tension, resonance, and fright, while the familiar setup fools readers into thinking they know what path the plot will follow. A moody, evocative, close-third narrative underscores the keenly rendered characters’ mounting distress and claustrophobia.

A harrowing slow burn with feminist undertones.

Kirkus Reviews

"A feminist gothic that evokes Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House." — New York Times Book Review

"The dream house in the country is a fictional standard for illuminating the realities of women’s domestic life; when the dream turns to nightmare, it’s the perfect setting for horror... Atmospheric and beautifully written, A Good House for Children builds slowly but surely into a terrifying ghost story." — Guardian

"[Will] go down a treat for all of those (numerous) readers with tastes straddling what passes for "literary fiction" and good old, deeply satisfying horror. It has a little bit of all things not very nice that make up a page-turning popular novel, without resorting to moral simplicity or predictability. It's a highly readable book that still inspires more questions than it answers - which is impressive, for being so rare...More than once, I was put in mind of The Turn of the Screw." — Irish Times

"Collins skillfully intercuts the two storylines, making clever use of structure to maximize tension, resonance, and fright, while the familiar setup fools readers into thinking they know what path the plot will follow. A moody, evocative, close-third narrative underscores the keenly rendered characters’ mounting distress and claustrophobia. A harrowing slow burn with feminist undertones." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"An engrossing read. ... A neat mix of psychological thriller and old-fashioned haunted house drama."       — Daily Mail (London)

"Utterly compelling, creepy and dark." — Irish Examiner

"That this is Collins's debut is astonishing. Her writing is well-crafted and takes us from the real to surreal and back again with ease. Keep the lights on and ignore any odd noises you hear." — Irish Independent

"Fans of gothic fiction will appreciate this tale reminiscent of Ruth Ware’s Turn of the Key." — Booklist

A stunning debut... A terrifying and propulsive gothic story with so much to say about parenthood, privilege and the psychological burden of motherhood. I was utterly mesmerised by it and found it so unsettling that I had to keep the lights on! ... Incredibly accomplished and original." — Katherine Faulkner, author of Greenwich Park

"Collins intertwines the tales of Orla and Lydia, who have each lived in the Reeve: a house subject to haunting, but also a place where boundaries blur . . . between different times, but also of the sense of reality and the other, and ultimately, the edge of sanity itself. A beautifully written, creepy tale reminiscent of Shirley Jackson." — Alison Littlewood, author of A Cold Season

"Equally terrifying and brilliant, Kate Collins' claustrophobic gothic tale of motherhood, sacrifice, and loss, captured my attention from eerie beginning to unforgettable end—-a read-in-one-sitting triumph of storytelling." — Ashley Tate, author of Twenty-Seven Minutes

From the Publisher

The dream house in the country is a fictional standard for illuminating the realities of women’s domestic life; when the dream turns to nightmare, it’s the perfect setting for horror.”

The Guardian (London)

Utterly compelling, creepy and dark.”

Irish Examiner (Dublin)