A Good House for Children

Longlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award

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Pub Date Mar 02 2023 | Archive Date Mar 01 2023

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Description

'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 The perfect place to destroy a family... The Reeve stands on the edge of the Dorset cliffs, awaiting its next inhabitants. Despite Orla's misgivings, her husband insists this house will be the perfect place to raise their two children. In 1976, Lydia moves to Dorset as a nanny for a family grieving their patriarch. She soon starts to hear and feel things that cannot be real, but her bereaved employer does not listen when Lydia tells her something is wrong. Separated by forty years, both Lydia and Orla realise that the longer they stay at the Reeve, the more deadly certain their need to keep the children safe from whatever lurks inside it... Nothing is quite what it seems at the Reeve, and with its pervasive atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread, Kate Collins' gothic creation will chill you to the core.

'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...


Advance Praise

'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


'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


'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

'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


'Equally terrifying and...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781788169301
PRICE £14.99 (GBP)
PAGES 336

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Average rating from 44 members


Featured Reviews

The descriptions were vivid, the Structure and plot flowed easily, making it an enjoyable read. I'd love a sequel. The author has set it up nicely if they ever wanted to do one.

The first half had me going is it the isolation? Is it grief? Slowly driving these characters out their minds and perhaps hearing or seeing things that aren't there. But the second half had me going please someone burn down that house and have no one live on that land ever again.

Also I feel that if Doug hadn't burdened Sarah the way he did or if Nick had listened to Orla in the beginning, everything would have been different. It just my interpretation, but I feel like it wasn't just about the house or the women or the children but also the choices of men that thought of their needs first that led to it all.

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