Description

The electrifying novel from the Booker shortlisted author of Everything Under.

‘A short sharp explosion of a gothic thriller’ Observer

Something unspeakable has happened to sisters July and September.

Desperate for a fresh start, they move across the country to an old family house that has a troubled life of its own. Noises come from behind the walls. Lights flicker of their own accord. Sleep feels impossible, dreams are endless.

In their new, unsettling surroundings, July finds that the fierce bond she’s always had with September – forged with a blood promise when they were children – is beginning to change in ways she cannot understand.

Publisher Review

A short, sharp explosion of a gothic thriller whose tension ratchets up and up to an ending of extraordinary lyricism and virtuosity. * Observer *Fiction to Look Out for in 2020* * A haunting, emotionally acute novel with a terrific twist. -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *Christmas Fiction* * [A] gothic masterpiece... You can't stop reading... This taut, lyrical firecracker of a book crescendos into an emotional ambush of a climax, which...confirms Johnson as a profoundly inventive and masterful storyteller. -- Gwendolyn Smith * i * A tour-de-force... Johnson's prose seduces us with the promise of comfort and then yanks that comfort away. -- Erica Wagner * Guardian *Book of the Day* * Exhilarating... A masterful follow up to her debut, Johnson's novel is quietly terrifying and certainly an apt read for 2020. * Evening Standard *