The Underhistory
Published on 11. April 2024
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-1-80081-202-4 (ISBN)
Description
'Full of suspense and surprises' - GUARDIAN
'Wholly unique and deeply compelling' - ESQUIRE
'A heartfelt and chilling gothic tragedy' - CHRIS WHITAKER
People come to visit my home and I love to show them around. It's not the original house of course. That was destroyed the day my entire family died. But I don't think their ghosts know the difference.
Pera Sinclair was nine the day the pilot intentionally crashed his plane into her family's grand home, killing everyone inside. She was the girl who survived the tragedy, a sympathetic oddity, growing stranger by the day. Over the decades she rebuilt the huge and rambling building on the original site, recreating what she had lost, each room telling a piece of the story of her life and that of the many people who died there, both before and after the disaster. Her sister, murdered a hundred miles away. The soldier, broken by war. Death follows Pera, and she welcomes it in as an old friend. And while she doesn't believe in ghosts, she's not above telling a ghost story or two to those who come to visit Sinclair House.
As Pera shows a young family around her home on the last haunted house tour of the season, an unexpected group of men arrive. One she recognises, but the others are strangers. But she knows their type all too well. Dangerous men, who will hurt the family without a second thought, and who will keep an old woman alive only so long as she is useful. But as she begins to show them around her home and reveal its secrets, the dangerous men will learn that she is far from helpless. After all, death seems to follow her wherever she goes...
Sinister and lyrical, The Underhistory is a haunting tale of loss, self-preservation and the darkness beneath.
'Wholly unique and deeply compelling' - ESQUIRE
'A heartfelt and chilling gothic tragedy' - CHRIS WHITAKER
People come to visit my home and I love to show them around. It's not the original house of course. That was destroyed the day my entire family died. But I don't think their ghosts know the difference.
Pera Sinclair was nine the day the pilot intentionally crashed his plane into her family's grand home, killing everyone inside. She was the girl who survived the tragedy, a sympathetic oddity, growing stranger by the day. Over the decades she rebuilt the huge and rambling building on the original site, recreating what she had lost, each room telling a piece of the story of her life and that of the many people who died there, both before and after the disaster. Her sister, murdered a hundred miles away. The soldier, broken by war. Death follows Pera, and she welcomes it in as an old friend. And while she doesn't believe in ghosts, she's not above telling a ghost story or two to those who come to visit Sinclair House.
As Pera shows a young family around her home on the last haunted house tour of the season, an unexpected group of men arrive. One she recognises, but the others are strangers. But she knows their type all too well. Dangerous men, who will hurt the family without a second thought, and who will keep an old woman alive only so long as she is useful. But as she begins to show them around her home and reveal its secrets, the dangerous men will learn that she is far from helpless. After all, death seems to follow her wherever she goes...
Sinister and lyrical, The Underhistory is a haunting tale of loss, self-preservation and the darkness beneath.
Reviews / Votes
Eerie, atmospheric, full of suspense and surprises, this is a brilliantly constructed, suspenseful gothic tale * Guardian * The most intriguing horror novel of the year so far... Reads like Shirley Jackson or Catriona Ward at their most gothically playful. It's a wholly unique intellectual exercise and a deeply compelling page-turner * Esquire * A gothic-tinged tale of supernatural horror and Scheherazade-like storytelling, with all the suspense and menace of page-turning crime fiction * Sydney Morning Herald * An original take on the secrets that houses keep, with every page drenched in foreboding. The Underhistory has all the hallmarks of a contemporary gothic classic -- Erin Kelly, author of HE SAID/SHE SAID A heartfelt and chilling gothic tragedy. Unbearably creepy, original and devastating -- Chris Whitaker, author of WE BEGIN AT THE END An inventive, layered haunted house novel, where ghosts reside amid the dust and each room holds its own message for the unwary visitor. Kaaron Warren is one of a kind -- Alison Littlewood, author of A COLD SEASON What an absolutely brilliant book this is! Superbly written, completely unique. Haunting, smart, and provoking -- L.V. Matthews, author of THE TWINS A unique jewel box of a book - tense locked room thriller meets haunted house gothic, pulled off with immense skill -- Lizzy Barber, author of OUT OF HER DEPTH A remarkable tour de force of a novel from a master storyteller. The structure of the novel is innovative and the tension never flags, while Pera is an extraordinary and satisfyingly ambiguous narrator. Startlingly good -- Leonora Nattrass, author of BLUE WATER Eerie, menacing, and totally original -- Philippa East, author of LITTLE WHITE LIES A fascinating and unnerving character study of a house and its sole survivor. A sinister, tense, and satisfying read, I absolutely loved it -- Carole Johnstone, author of MIRRORLAND Strange, sinister and marvellously written. A box of Gothic delights -- Anna Mazzola, author of THE CLOCKWORK GIRL A vivid gallery of melancholy, joy, and horror. This book is infused with a love of places and objects, the stories they carry, and the stories they inspire. A vibrant heroine, loathsome villains, and a compelling setting make The Underhistory a haunting treasure, written by a master of her craft -- Daniel O'Malley, author of THE ROOK Hauntingly creepy, this twisty, layered thriller will upend your expectations and spin you deep into a house of dark secrets. I utterly lost track of right and wrong, and was gunning all the way for my new favourite heroine -- Rachael Blok, author of THE SCORCHED EARTH Warren wraps the reader in a fabric embroidered with tragedy and story, loss and memory. She enchants us with whimsy and lures us with hope, anchoring the past to the present with ordinary objects. The Underhistory is a triumph, intricately woven and mesmerisingly told -- Sulari Gentill, author of PAVING THE NEW ROADMore details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 237 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
602 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80081-202-4 (9781800812024)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Kaaron Warren is the author of the novels Slights, Walking the Tree, Mistification, Tide of Stone and The Grief Hole and the short story collections Through Splintered Walls, The Grinding House, and Dead Sea Fruit. Her short stories have won her a Shirley Jackson Award, as well as multiple Australian Shadows Awards, Ditmar Awards and Aurealis Awards. She lives in Canberra, Australia.