'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.’