by Kristen B.

A good Gothic novel practically requires a spectacularly weird house with supernatural tendencies. Starling House might be the main character of its own novel – not quite but close. Our actual main character, Opal, routinely walks the long way home from her going-nowhere-fast job just to wander past the house. She dreams of it and its mysterious amber light. Opal is an unlucky high school dropout trying to make ends meet for herself and her academically talented younger brother, Jasper. They live in a room at the local motel, subsisting on Pop-Tarts and bad pizza. Their mom died in a car accident on a cold night when the mists rose off the Mud River, which is when bad things happen in Eden, Kentucky.

The Starling family is one of strays and orphans, who take the name and the ownership of the house. Arthur is the last in a long line of Starlings, although his parents raised him in the house before he ran away looking for a more normal life. The only major employer in Eden is the Gravely Power company and their coal mines, and the Gravelys and Starlings have a long, complicated history. When Opal finagles a high-paying housekeeping job from the anti-social Arthur, she finds a decades long domestic disaster. As Opal cleans, she realizes that the house has its own sort of sentience – and that it seems to like her. But rooms rearrange and corridors form mazes, and sometimes the space seems to move her to where she needs to be (like Casita in Encanto, but not as friendly).

The story trades points of view between Opal and Arthur, both of whom are disillusioned and suspicious of each other and the entire situation. The book intersperses their hostile encounters with different versions of the town’s past – about Eleanor Starling, her children’s book The Understory, and the house she built. There’s also a set of unscrupulous business consultants with an unwholesome interest in the Starling property and mineral rights, and they target Opal. Untangling the nest of rumor, legend, and sordid tales holds the key (literally) to resolving the tragedy that haunts the town, Opal’s family, and Starling House.

The book has a powerful engine of a plot, along with its engaging characters. I couldn’t help but root for Opal, despite her ingrained need to keep the world at arm’s length. Her carefully guarded heart sometimes misses the loving connections in her world in its desperation to remain stoically independent. Arthur isn’t much different, and these two lost souls truly need each other. The supernatural elements are just creepy enough to give the entire proceedings a sideways edge, which kept me wondering if the author was going to be able to pull it all off. I thought this was her best book yet (although I also loved Once and Future Witches) – it’s a lean, mean, twisty tale, where all the components are necessary to make the story work.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow is available in print, e-book, and e-audiobook.

Kristen B. is a devoted bookworm lucky enough to work as the graphic designer for HCLS. She likes to read, stitch, dance, and watch baseball (but not all at the same time).