A Good House for Children

May 8, 2023
Collins draws on the folk horror trend for her twisty gothic debut about a haunted house in England. The story develops from two parallel plot threads, both centered on the Reeve, a sprawling 19th-century mansion on the Dorset coast, feared by locals due to a history of children drowning in a pond on the property. In 1976, Londoner and recent widow Sara Robinson moves to the Reeve with her four kids and their nanny, Lydia. Four decades later, artist Orla McGrath and her husband Nick move from Bristol to the Reeve with their two young children, hoping the change of scenery will help break their young son Sam out of his voluntary mutism. Members of both households experience the Reeve as a prototypical creepy old house—they hear disembodied voices and footsteps and glimpse spectral figures. In both timelines, the story builds to a traditional Midsummer celebration, which a local woman tells Lydia is meant to placate mean fairies, ones who “curdle the milk, steal the children.” It’s here that Collins suggests who’s haunting the house and why. Along the way, 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. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency.