First published 2026
Shantell approaches the inherited house with deep skepticism. Her best friend Avery has just received Abernathy House, a property supposedly free from any tragic history. Shantell expects the worst after losing her father in Iraq, her brother to police violence, and her mother to suicide. Instead, the house works like medicine. Her anxiety disappears. Avery develops emotional depth she never possessed. Tobias, Avery's brother helping with renovations, quits his smoking habit entirely. The peace feels unnatural, almost disturbing in its completeness. Then they discover they share the house with spirits. If no tragedies occurred here, why do ghosts wander these rooms? Their investigation reveals the house's Civil War origins, when a Confederate daughter made a bargain to prevent suffering within these walls. The darkness had to go somewhere. Now Shantell and her friends must confront what happens when a house desperately wants to be good.
Genres: literary-fiction, fantasy, horror, contemporary, adult-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, haunting, introspective, thought-provoking, unsettling
Tropes: dark-bargain, found-family, haunted-house, healing-through-magic
Setting: Abernathy House, Iraq
Period: Civil War era, Contemporary
288 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: death, racism, suicide