Just Jennifer

The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman

Almost immediately out of college, Jess Martin had a best-selling novel, but has been struggling with a follow-up ever since.  His wife Clare is also a would-be writer but has taken a job as a copy editor to pay the bills and support the couple’s Brooklyn lifestyle while Jess continues to write.  Nearly out of money and options, the couple decides to move to the Hudson Valley where surely life will cost less money.  The only situation they are able to afford, however, is as caretakers for the rundown home, River House, known locally thanks to some graffiti as Riven House, of an almost reclusive author, Alden Montague, who was a former mentor to both Jess and Clare.  At first, the situation seems almost too good to be true: Jess is writing again, and it looks as if the young couple will be able to get back on their feet financially and get their marriage back on track.  Soon, though, the dark, oddly octagonal house with hidden rooms and passages begins to show its true self and the abandoned rooms begin to give up their secrets including ghostly figures and crying babies all tied to long ago family secrets.  As Clare slowly begins her descent into darkness, she is certain she is being haunted, but can’t understand why no one believes her.  This creepy, dark, twisty novel is full of all kinds of gothic goodness as secrets are revealed and Clare’s madness turns to clarity.  A modern day read for Mary Stewart and Shirley Jackson fans.