Ask A Bookseller: ‘The September House’

Ryan Elizabeth Clark of Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, N.H., says her fellow booksellers refer to her as the “Queen of Scream” because she reads primarily horror novels, so when she says Carissa Orlando’s novel “The September House” is the one of the best horror novels she’s ever read, she knows what she’s talking about.

“Carissa Orlando has taken the haunted house trope, flipped it on its head, and given us a brilliantly clever novel about so much more than ghosts,” she raves.

Margaret has found her dream home, and she’s not going to leave it. Sure, every September the walls start bleeding and the ghost children return, but Margaret has learned how to put up with that. Even when it drives her husband, Hal, to leave, she stays. And then things get worse.

At times terrifying, at times darkly funny, this haunted house book is perfect for fans of Grady Hendrix.

“‘The September House’ is a deeply moving and tender novel about humanity’s — and women’s in particular — ability and tendency to normalize things that should never be normalized. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.”