Description

‘In her beautifully written debut, Kate Collins gives the haunted house novel a refreshing renovation, while retaining a deliciously chilling atmosphere that fans of Shirley Jackson will love. I was entranced’ Francine Toon, author of Pine

The perfect place to destroy a family…

The Reeve stands on the edge of the Dorset cliffs, awaiting its next inhabitants. Despite Orla’s misgivings, her husband insists this house will be the perfect place to raise their two children.

In 1976, Lydia moves to Dorset as a nanny for a family grieving their patriarch. She soon starts to hear and feel things that cannot be real, but her bereaved employer does not listen when Lydia tells her something is wrong.

Separated by forty years, both Lydia and Orla realise that the longer they stay at the Reeve, the more deadly certain their need to keep the children safe from whatever lurks inside it…

Nothing is quite what it seems at the Reeve, and with its pervasive atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread, Kate Collins’ gothic creation will chill you to the core.

Publisher Review

I absolutely loved A Good House for Children and was gripped right from the start. A dark and haunting read — Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall Refuse Them I absolutely loved this claustrophobic and chilling story. Beautifully written with skilfully developed characters, Collins explores the themes of motherhood and identity. As the story builds, so does a pervasive sense of menace and looming tragedy, making it impossible to put down. — Rebecca Netley, author of The Whistling A Good House for Children is a wonderfully dark fable, filled with subtle dread. Kate Collins mixes folklore and the gothic in a perceptive exploration of the terrors of motherhood and the ravages of grief. It’s a novel filled with quiet horror, and the Reeve is a wonderful creation, elegant and haunted – a perfect family home which casts and long and deadly shadow. — Amanda Mason, author of The Hiding Place 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 Mistletoe and The Hidden People A chilling, unsettling read that drew me in and stayed with me long after I had finished it … Kate Collins knows exactly how much to show us and how much to leave to our imaginations. A perspective, accomplished ghost story that managed to be both tender and truly terrifying. — Emily Critchley, author of One Puzzling Afternoon 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 Collins has written a stunning debut. A Good House for Children is both a compulsive ghost story and a very clever contemplation of the trials of motherhood. With a deeply sinister atmosphere, a beautifully rendered setting, and a perfectly crafted mystery at its heart, I was gripped from the beginning – and hopefully I’ll sleep again soon! — Rosemary Hennigan, author of The Truth Will Out: 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 Imbued with a creeping sense of dread, Kate Collins’ gothic tale A Good House for Children is an assured debut that offers chills aplenty. Fracturing sanities and ever-present menace make this a most unsettling read, perfect for fans of Susan Hill — Anita Frank, author of The Lost Ones Weaves a seductive spell, drawing the reader in as inexorably as the house draws its inhabitants into its own sinister world. This is a very contemporary take on the house of horror theme and the way it is rooted in the real world makes it all the more chilling. Neatly reversing your expectations at every turn this is a well crafted tale that may well leave you sleeping with the lights on … — Sally Hinchcliffe, author of Hare House An engrossing read … A neat mix of psychological thriller and old-fashioned haunted house drama * Daily Mail * This accomplished debut works on both levels as it tells two stories separated in time but linked by situation. Atmospheric and beautifully written, it builds slowly but surely into a terrifying ghost story — Lisa Tuttle * Guardian * Utterly compelling, creepy and dark * Irish Examiner * A creepy little slow burn — Kirsty Logan, author of Now She Is Witch A feminist gothic that evokes Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House … The horror surfaces only in the presence of women, who are as abandoned as the house in the periods between its inhabitants. — Betsy Bonner * the New York Times *