Bottling His Ghosts is a novella in the Selected Papers From the Consortium for Anomalous Phenomenon series.
Henrietta is a grieving young widow who returns home to her family at Daunderhead Hall. Instead of the comfort she expected, she finds her parents tormented by their concern for Thorne, the nephew they raised as a son. Leaving a good job as a coroner's constable, he has brought his wife and daughter to live in one of the family's decaying cottages while he drinks himself into an alcoholic stupor. Henrietta is determined to figure out the cause of her cousin's degradation and help overcome it.
Bottling His Ghosts is a ghost story set in Victorian England. The author depicts the ghosts and their effect on the living vividly. The problem I had is that the novella form is too brief to allow for the characters' development but it is also too long to sustain the the impact that a good short story could have.
I requested this title based on the description, not realizing that it was part of a series of novellas.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Raw Dog Screaming Press for the opportunity to access a free advance copy of this novella in exchange for my honest opinion.

DNF at 22%
The prose/writing style is just really dry and not working for me at all. I've been bored from the beginning, and I kept checking that percentage in the corner every time I clicked to the next page hoping I would be much further along than I actually was. I keep waiting for something to happen, but nothing really does. This just isn't the story for me

<I>Bottling His Ghosts</I> by S.H. Cooper is a tidy little tale with a tight plot and a brisk pace, part of the <I>Selected Papers from the Consortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena</I> line of novellas curated by R.J. Joseph. I appreciated that the story didn’t overstay its welcome. Cooper delivers a full narrative arc in under 150 pages, where many authors might have dragged it out over 300. If that had been the case, I likely wouldn’t have finished.

That said, the Regency/Victorian setting just isn’t my thing, and that preference definitely colored my experience. For readers who enjoy that era, this may land better. The theme centers around the idea that “family is a complicated, bloody beast,” but it didn’t quite hit with the emotional weight I think the author was aiming for.

Overall, a solid quick read with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It didn’t resonate with me personally, but I can see the appeal for others, especially fans of moody, compact horror grounded in historical settings.

"After a tragic accident leaves her widowed, Netta flees home to Daunderhead hoping for the space to process her grief. Instead, she finds her cousin, Thorn, once like a brother to her, swimming at the bottom of every bottle he can find. Her parents, unable to break him from his alcoholic stupor, have grown despondent and resigned to his fate; and her once beautiful childhood home has fallen into the grasp of nefarious ghosts whose goals remain unclear. Refusing to allow another tragedy to befall her family, Netta takes it upon herself to help her cousin and - hopefully - stop the hauntings."

Ghosts do love their drunks...

FYI: I received an ARC of Bottling His Ghosts by SH Cooper through NetGalley. Many thanks to the publisher for granting my request.

Bottling His Ghosts by SH Cooper is a novella that explores the ghosts we carry with us and how societal expectations determine how we’re “allowed” to grieve.

Summary
Victorian England: after the sudden death of her husband in a work accident, Netta returns to her childhood home Daunderhead. Here, she hopes to have space to process her grief.

Instead, she finds her cousin, Thorn - who was like a brother to her - has been drinking heavily and not doing much else with his time.

Can Netta help Thorn conquer his ghosts?

SH Cooper’s Bottling His Ghosts is a short novella that features a mystery surrounding ghosts.

Thoughts
So here’s the thing. Both Netta and Thorn are experiencing grief brought on by trauma. Their trauma may be different, but it’s impacting them nonetheless.

We can talk about how everyone responds to trauma differently, which is true.

But I think that with Bottling His Ghosts, Cooper was trying to make a point about how gender can influence how people are “allowed” to show their grief.

When Netta lost her husband, she was expected to display her grief. She wore black and went to stay with her parents / support network. No one batted an eye.
When Thorn experienced immense trauma, he was told to bottle up his grief. He’s told to “be a man,” to be stoic, to not show his grief.

Because Thorn is not allowed to adequately process his trauma, he turned to some self destructive behaviors. While it’s never explicitly stated, it’s very possible that Thorn is experiencing PTSD. Studies have shown that people with PTSD often turn to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate.

A Tangent / Rant
There’s often a lot of talk about the “strong female character.” It always bugs me when this term is used to describe female characters who eschew traditionally feminine traits. I mean, yes, adopt some traditionally masculine traits if you want to, but that doesn’t mean traditionally feminine traits are inferior. I would love to see more female characters (and characters of all gender identities, really) possess a mix of traditionally masculine and feminine traits. I feel like by eschewing traditionally feminine traits, you’re suggesting that these traits are inferior. This has some sexist implications.

Why the Tangent?

I wanted to make it clear where I stand. Additionally, I think that Cooper might share my opinion. In Bottling His Ghosts, Cooper demonstrates that traditionally masculine traits aren’t always superior.

A Negative
One criticism I have of Bottling His Ghosts is that I felt the end was kinda rushed. I realize Cooper set out to write a novella and that this comes with certain expectations regarding length. I don’t think Cooper needed to write a full length novel here, but I also thought Bottling His Ghosts might have benefitted from being slightly longer.

In Conclusion
Bottling His Ghosts is a novella that explores how we handle grief and how gender may play a role in how we’re “allowed” to express our grief.

Henrietta, a recently widowed young woman, heads back to her family home for a time. Once there, she realizes something is going on with her adopted brother. Everyone thinks it's a sudden bout of alcoholism, but Henrietta begins seeing things, and realizes there is something otherworldly haunting her brother. 
This was a solid little gothic ghost story about grief and family. The pacing and plot were good; the characters and setting well done. I enjoyed it a lot.

I rated it 4/5.
Thank you to NetGalley and RDS Publishing for the ARC!

Enjoy another great read in this series. Started slow, but ending up just right. Will need to read more from S H Cooper. #BottlingHisGhosts #NetGalley

*Bottling His Ghosts* by S.H. Cooper is a haunting, intimate tale that wraps its horror around grief, memory, and the quiet devastation of love lost. From the first page, it’s clear this isn’t just a ghost story—it’s an emotional excavation, a slow unraveling of a person clinging to the past in all the wrong ways.

Cooper’s writing is both lyrical and sharp, effortlessly moving between tender moments and creeping dread. The supernatural elements are chilling, yes, but they’re never just there to scare—they’re deeply tied to the emotional core of the story. Every eerie moment feels earned, each one echoing the narrator’s internal decay.

What struck me most was the vulnerability. This book doesn’t flinch away from pain or guilt—it leans into them, forcing the reader to sit with the uncomfortable truths we often bury. The atmosphere is thick with sorrow, yet somehow still beautiful in its brokenness.

*Bottling His Ghosts* lingers. It’s the kind of story that follows you into the quiet moments of your day, whispering reminders of all the things we carry, and what happens when we try to keep them too close. Heart-wrenching, eerie, and deeply human—I loved every moment.

S.H. Cooper always knows how to bring the scary. A man haunted and a cousin trying to help makes up this nice tale of supernatural that keeps you involved and on the edge of your seat.
The characters are the strong point for this one. You get invested quick.
Recommended.

This was a great little gothic ghost story!

The vibes were spooky and I was initially drawn in by the promise of ghosts, but there ended up being so much heart to the story! My favorite aspects were the gothic setting and Eudora and her canine companions! I would have loved to see more of Eudora in this story, but alas, a short story can only be so long!

I do think the ending felt a little rushed. Coming up to the ending, we have already learned much about what is truly going on with these ghosts, but the resolution felt a bit incomplete.

Overall, this was a very solid gothic read!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Raw Dog Screaming Press for the arc!

S.H. Cooper has written an intriguing Gothic mystery, about a man being haunted by strangely acting spectres, and his female cousin coming back home and trying to save him. Although it goes full supernatural very fast, it never degenerates into a typical story of this sort. The author makes it very difficult to put the book down, especially towards the last third, when we're on the verge of discovering what's causing the weird events transpiring. That said, the tale's strength is not so much plot as characterization: the man tormented by guilt, seeking to find solace in alcohol, occasionally behaving totally irrational and violent, the female cousin, a widow who's still mourning her husband's loss, who loves her cousin and never backs down from conflict, no matter how frustrated or threatened she may feel; they're all portrayed with such great empathy and attention to psychological detail, it sometimes felt like the story was filled with cruel honesty and cold sincerity to the point of despair. That said, I found the supernatural elements very much underwhelming, and wouldn't have been surprised if they'd all turned to be solely the product of hereditary mental issues or an overactive imagination. In fact, I'm convinced the supernatural was mostly a pretext to introduce another interesting character in the story, namely Eudora, some sort of witch or psychic with a very mysterious past. Perhaps the author will return to her in due time.

This is an excellent novella about how ghosts can attach themselves to a person that has extra sensitivity or has experienced trauma. The setting, characters, and situations are all beautifully written and have a lot of depth for the length of the novella.

The finale, especially was both unnerving and beautiful in a way.

''𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑫𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔."

Thank you to Netgalley, Raw Dog Screaming Press and S. H. Cooper for the ARC. 🖤

A gothic victorian setting with ghost? I was deeply in from the very start.

Having read nothing from S. H. Cooper previously, I didn't know what to expect going in but I'll absolutely be on the lookout for anything and everything they publish in the future - I'll read their shopping list if need be.

"Bottling His Ghosts" was a gorgeous victorian horror novella that explored the themes of guilt, grief and the toxic societal expectations of men beautifully.

I loved the cast of characters, specifically Eudora and her two faithful canine companions, and I loved to finally meet Thorn properly towards the end of the novella.

My only gripe with this book was that I wished the ending sequence was a bit more fleshed out, it felt a bit rushed at times. But that could also be just me yearning for more time with these characters.

Bravo Cooper, bravo!

This one had such a strong setup, a grieving widow returning to a haunted family home, a cousin drowning in guilt and alcohol, and ghosts with unclear intentions? I was in. The writing was atmospheric, and the grief was portrayed in a heavy, honest way that stuck with me.

That said, it didn’t fully grip me. The pacing dragged a bit, and I found myself wanting more from the supernatural side. The ghosts were spooky but not as menacing or mysterious as I hoped, and some of the emotional beats didn’t quite hit as hard as they were set up to.