{5\/5} “He doesn’t know why it would want her, of all people: a freckled scarecrow of a girl with crooked teeth and holes in the knees of her jeans, entirely unremarkable except for the steel in her eyes. And perhaps for the way she stood her ground against him. He is a ghost, a rumor, a story whispered after the children have gone to bed, and she was cold and hurt, all alone in the rising dark — and yet she hadn’t run from him until he told her to.”<\/p>\n
Starling House<\/strong> by Alix E. Harrow, published in 2023<\/p>\n Opal was obsessed as a kid with a book called The Underland<\/strong> by E. Starling. She sometimes dreams about Starling House, but even though she lives in the same town she’s never actually seen it. It’s behind a gate and some trees. She works at Tractor Supply and hopes to get her brother out of town to something better. One day when walking home from work she stops at the gate to Starling House when a man appears on the other side and tells her to run.<\/p>\n Harrow’s stunning novel will grab you right away.<\/p>\n It’s about a house that’s more than a house. It’s about people who are pulling you in different directions — one you sort of like, and one you definitely don’t. It’s about someone who was hurt so badly that she conjured up beasts to hurt those who hurt her.<\/p>\n Even if you think a mysterious-old-house story is not the one you want to read today, this one has the specificity, the tragedy, and the romance to speak to you.<\/p>\n