Model Home
Published on 20. February 2025
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-5299-0169-6 (ISBN)
Description
'Intense, original, and wonderfully unpredictable . . . Model Home is a story of a haunted house and haunted people; profound family secrets lie at the heart of this book as well as, surprisingly, blessedly, meaningful touches of love and hope. Rivers Solomon is an astonishingly talented writer.' Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women
'A startling reimagination of the haunted-house genre. The twists and turns are carefully drawn, with the tension mounting toward a shocking end . . . With this exhilarating and unforgettable work, Solomon proves to be a formidable writer.' Kirkus
'Moving. Gnawing. Alive. Complete with claws and a heart and lungs in it . . . its genius does not, even for the sake of mercy, relent.' Eloghosa Osunde, author of Vagabonds!
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Two bodies lie in the garden of a sprawling property in Oak Creek Estate, a wealthy gated community in Dallas, Texas.
The bodies belong to the parents of Ezri, Eve and Emmanuel, who have long since abandoned the childhood home in which their parents remained all these years. A home that has haunted and hollowed them throughout their lives, in a neighbourhood where they grew up as the only Black family, hoping to survive a place that wanted to claim them, expel them and ruin them all at once.
In the wake of their parents' death, Ezri and their siblings are forced to confront the reasons they left, the nightmares that have held them captive and the possibility that realities exist beyond those that have forged them.
Bold and tender, Model Home is powerful meditation on the power of memory, loss and identity.
Praise for Sorrowland:
'A wonderland of fantastical and frightening, magical and real.' Marlon James
'A fantastical, fierce reckoning... Sorrowland is gorgeous.' Roxanne Gay
'Dark, magical and incredibly satisfying.' Independent
'An exhilarating journey to the outer limits of science fiction.' Guardian
'Intense, original and wonderfully unpredicatable.' Victor LaVelle
'A startling reimagination of the haunted-house genre. The twists and turns are carefully drawn, with the tension mounting toward a shocking end . . . With this exhilarating and unforgettable work, Solomon proves to be a formidable writer.' Kirkus
'Moving. Gnawing. Alive. Complete with claws and a heart and lungs in it . . . its genius does not, even for the sake of mercy, relent.' Eloghosa Osunde, author of Vagabonds!
----------
Two bodies lie in the garden of a sprawling property in Oak Creek Estate, a wealthy gated community in Dallas, Texas.
The bodies belong to the parents of Ezri, Eve and Emmanuel, who have long since abandoned the childhood home in which their parents remained all these years. A home that has haunted and hollowed them throughout their lives, in a neighbourhood where they grew up as the only Black family, hoping to survive a place that wanted to claim them, expel them and ruin them all at once.
In the wake of their parents' death, Ezri and their siblings are forced to confront the reasons they left, the nightmares that have held them captive and the possibility that realities exist beyond those that have forged them.
Bold and tender, Model Home is powerful meditation on the power of memory, loss and identity.
Praise for Sorrowland:
'A wonderland of fantastical and frightening, magical and real.' Marlon James
'A fantastical, fierce reckoning... Sorrowland is gorgeous.' Roxanne Gay
'Dark, magical and incredibly satisfying.' Independent
'An exhilarating journey to the outer limits of science fiction.' Guardian
'Intense, original and wonderfully unpredicatable.' Victor LaVelle
Reviews / Votes
'Intense, original, and wonderfully unpredictable, those adjectives describe Rivers Solomon as much as this novel. Model Home is a story of a haunted house and haunted people; profound family secrets lie at the heart of this book as well as, surprisingly, blessedly, meaningful touches of love and hope. Rivers Solomon is an astonishingly talented writer.' -- author of Lone Women * Victor LaValle * 'A startling reimagination of the haunted-house genre. The twists and turns are carefully drawn, with the tension mounting toward a shocking end ... With this exhilarating and unforgettable work, Solomon proves to be a formidable writer.' -- . * Kirkus * 'A profoundly haunting work of true horror from one of the greatest writers working today.' -- author of Just Like Home and Magic for Liars * Sarah Gailey * 'Fueled by unreliable narrator Ezri's grief, Solomon's (Sorrowland, 2021) lyrical slow burn is a disquieting and disorienting rumination on heavy themes including racism, mental illness, gender dysphoria, and sexual abuse. The ambiguity of Ezri's reflections will keep readers turning the pages to find out what really happened to the Maxwell siblings, whose traumatic childhoods continue to haunt them long after they leave home. Solomon's genre-defying achievement subverts and reclaims the tropes of the gothic haunted house to create something wholly original and unforgettable.' -- Kaitlin Conner * Booklist * 'This is easily one of the best books I've read in the last five or so years. Beastly storytelling from page one. Moving. Gnawing. Alive. Complete with claws and a heart and lungs in it. Consider me sucked in! My favorite part of this work doubles as a kind of spoiler: its genius does not, even for the sake of mercy, relent.' * - Eloghosa Osunde * 'A stylish, simmering novel about identity, race and family secrets.' -- iNews * - * 'A disturbing, brilliantly twisty psychological horror exploring family dynamics, memory, gender identity and sexuality.' -- Lisa Tuttle * The Guardian *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cornerstone
Dimensions
Height: 217 mm
Width: 147 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
411 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-0169-6 (9781529901696)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Rivers Solomon writes about life in the margins, where they're much at home. Their work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. They are the author of An Unkindness of Ghosts, The Deep, and Sorrowland. A refugee of the transatlantic slave trade, Solomon was born on Turtle Island. They currently live in the UK.