Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Book Description

Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House―and make some extra cash for her brother’s escape fund―she can’t resist.

But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. And now she’ll have to fight.

Review

As summer swings toward fall, I’m ready for darker reads. Enter Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, a spooky gothic fairytale.

Opal’s sole goal is to get her little brother out of Eden, Kentucky… and she’s willing to do anything to make that happen.

Harrow is one of my auto-buy authors, so when I saw an ARC of her latest book on NetGalley, I had to snap it up.

And this book.

You guys, Harrow’s done it again. Starling House is gorgeous. It’s creepy, heartbreaking, hopeful, and mindbendingly-weird.

I mean, who doesn’t love a sinister gothic fairy tale with a huge, haunted house wrapped up in decades of mystery?

A Novel Protagonist

Opal is a fascinating character. A high school dropout with bad teeth, she’s scraped by, “raised on the underside of the rules.” By her own admission, she lies and cheats and steals. But she is also a survivor with a core of steel. And she would do anything to ensure her little brother makes it out of their no-hope small town.

I spent a lot of the novel wincing at the things Opal says and does. In many ways, she is her own worst enemy. But she is a sympathetic character and has such a terrific voice that she dragged me into her story on page one.

Starling House seethes with longing. It’s piercing and bitter, like thirst on a hot day. You can’t trust anyone, or anything, and you can’t help but root for Opal.

If you love gothic novels with creepy vibes, lush prose, and characters with sharp edges, don’t miss Starling House.

Content Warning

Abandonment, Abuse, Alcohol, Death, Depression, Drugs, Explicit Language, Grief, Incest (attempted, not graphic), Violence

The header photo is a composite image. Base image by avechenri on Unsplash