The Cold House by AG Slatter
I would like to thank Titan Books for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – out now
Price – £11.99 hardback £6.89 ebook
When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate and utterly compelling horror novella.
Writer Everly Bainbridge's life is left in ruins when her husband takes their child to the supermarket one day and a lorry collides with their car. After the accident, a lawyer appears on her doorstep and tells her her husband was not who he said he was and she is a very rich widow. She retreats to a lonely house in the countryside to recover. But there’s a well in the cellar, a spectacularly cold room, and one night, Everly wakes up with a foot hanging over the emptiness of the well and the echo of her daughter’s voice in her ears…
A short, sharp, emotionally layered story of horrific secrets and dangerous lies, this dark, fierce gem of a novella will keep you turning the pages late into the night…
Expectations for a reader is an interesting area to think about. It’s the foreshadowing as to what type of story you may be getting into. There are obvious clues the cover and the book’s blurb but also the type of world and characters you create in it. One of the advantages of any genre (including the one named literary) are that there are certain story paths, conventions and events that make the reader start to realise the story they’re reading actually is. A good author though knows when to play with those clues and give the reader something different. I’m very pleased to say that in AG Slatter’s new novella The Cold House we get an inventive mix of gothic and folk horror that definitely takes us on an unexpected but welcome trip.
Dr Everly Bainbridge’s life has ended. A successful novelist on one day she finds herself totally alone when her husband and young daughter die in a car crash. She is drifting through the days and not quite sure if she has eaten nor does she really care. She is surprised though by the appearance of her husband’s lawyer advising her that she is now entitled to a sizeable inheritance. Heer husband never shared that he came from a wealthy family. The lawyer also says he is keen to offer some respite so Everly if offered a short stay in an isolated house near the village of St Jude – Morningthorp manor though isn’t your average holiday home but a large mansion. Everly finds its strange, has locked rooms and very soon she finds herself hearing voices and appearing to move when she sleeps. Something or someone is watching Everly but for what purpose.
This has a blistering start when Everly in the pit of grief takes an unpleasant man’s behaviour in the supermarket very personally and injury follows. But we also see her kinder side and in her own words find out what happened to her. Slatter does all of this in a few chapters and it is itself a horror story without the supernatural. The happiness and the loss of it is beautifully told. We are fully on Everly’s side and get her sense of shock and betrayal at what appears to be a secret kept from her. The storytelling on display in a few pages is brilliant you can see a life led and lost in a moment.
This of course makes us twitch when we have mysterious lawyer’s and a strange mansion in the middle of nowhere – it even gets separated from the mainland. Everly seems to be the innocent sent into the mysterious haunted house. We even find there is a local folk tale about a witch who may occasionally have people burnt in their beds. All of which suggests as any horror fan knows Everly is in danger.
Now here is where expectations get played with because Slatter very nimbly gives us two interesting deviations from the normal. Everly is not a wan powerless innocent abroad in the countryside. As our narrator she is smart, angry and she too has a family secret she isn’t keen on sharing. The threat here also is real, it is supernatural, but it is not quite the story we think it will be. What happens when these two unexpected events combine? I can’t tell you as that would spoil the story, but we have a tale here of bargains and choices. The tension is kept strong and the emotional struggles of Everly are key to us following her story and actions. She is not going to be anyone’s victim and for that I applaud the way expectations are subverted.
Fans of Slatter may be very familiar with dark folk tale retellings of the Sourdough universe. This is something a little different but equally captivating. A mix of the old school gothic and modern folk horror which combined with the character of Everly is a huge draw. There is horror but also some justice and this is a perfect tale for a night nearing Halloween. Strongly recommended!
