Verushka

by Jan Stinchcomb

Overview

Someone is stalking Devon Woodward. They've been there all along, since before she was born, going back to her grandmother's time. Waiting for her. Watching. And the people who should be able to help, her own parents, are making everything worse.

Devon is right to be afraid. Verushka, both victim and villain, is a half-human witch from the other side of the world. She will do anything to get what she needs from the Woodward family, but she may have finally met her match in young Devon.

Will family conflict sabotage Devon's efforts to escape and put her in even greater danger? In this multi-perspective novel that is part fairy tale and part horror story, a young girl fights to uncover the truth and save her own life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781685100902
Publisher:	Journalstone Publishing
Publication date:	07/07/2023
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.41(d)

Editorial Reviews

06/26/2023

In this ambitious, generation-spanning horror novel from Stinchcomb (The Kelping), an old family curse is brought to bear in the present as teenager Devon Woodward is pursued by a mysterious woman who aims to exact a terrible price for the sins of the past. After a tumultuous childhood involving otherworldly visions (“Devon has witches and fairies and ghosts in her world. They come to her at different times. At night she sees them in the dark corners, and in the daylight she sees them in the trees”) and a house burnt to the ground, Devon is on the cusp of puberty and living with her family in an isolated chalet when she begins sleepwalking and seeing a Verushka, a white-haired phantom who appears whenever she’s at her most vulnerable. To help her, Devon’s parents must delve into their own troubled pasts, uncovering secrets that might hold the key to keeping their daughter safe. Through evocative prose, Stinchcomb establishes a mounting sense of claustrophobia as the tension ratchets up. The novel’s reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, however, and many of the story’s folk horror elements feel underutilized as the plot nears its conclusion. Still, the punchy climax will more than satisfy fans looking for a supernatural showdown. Fans of T. Kingfisher’s The Twisted Ones will want to check this out. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly