“Inaugurated in 1954, the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award is now in its 70th year, making it the longest-running UK prize for debut fiction and – except for the James Tait Black and the Hawthornden – the oldest literary prize in Britain.”
The dazzling debut novel from Kate Collins--a feminist gothic mystery spanning decades, in the vein of Mexican Gothic and The Essex Serpent.
A Good House for Children publishes with Mariner Books in the US on July 4th 2023
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
A feminist gothic that evokes Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” - New York Times
[…] 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 - Publishers Weekly
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 [..] reads like a novelist in her prime - Irish Times
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
Apart from the content the delivery is sublime, that this is Collin’s debut is frankly astonishing. Her writing is well-crafted and takes readers from the real to surreal and back again with ease. - Irish Independent
Utterly compelling, creepy and dark ― Irish Examiner
An engrossing read ... A neat mix of psychological thriller and old-fashioned haunted house drama ― Daily Mail
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
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
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
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 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
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
'Fantastically inventive' Collins debut signed by Serpent's Tail
The chilling contemporary gothic novel tells the story of the Reeve, a grand but dilapidated house on the edge of the Dorset cliffs and the two families destroyed by their time there, one in 2017 And the other in 1976. It follows Orla, whose husband insists that the Reeve will be the perfect place for them to raise their son and baby daughter. Forty years before, Lydia moves to Dorset with the wealthy family she nannies for, a household grieving the recent loss of their patriarch. Sleeping up in a distant attic room, Lydia begins to hear and feel things that cannot possibly be real. Both Orla and Lydia come to realise that the Reeve is a house which needs a lot of attention from its occupants, and sometimes it needs more even than that.
A Good House for Children will entrance and terrify fans of Andrew Michael Hurley’s The Loney and Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions and is due to be published in April 2023. It introduces a dazzling new talent to the UK literary horror scene in debut author Kate Collins.
Leonora Craig Cohen said ‘I was hooked straight away by the pervasive sense of dread in this novel; the Reeve is a fascinating and horrible character in its own right and I’m so excited to have acquired this sinister compulsive novel. Collins uses folk horror in her own fantastically inventive way to explore motherhood, sacrifice and duty.’
Kate Collins said ‘I’m so thrilled to be working with Serpent’s Tail and my brilliant editor, Leonora, who completely understood my vision for A Good House for Children and together we’ve made it something special and unexpected. Serpent’s Tail is a visionary publisher with an incredible list, and I’m honoured to be publishing my debut novel with them.’