A Good House for Children by Kate Collins (Serpent’s Tail, £14.99)
The isolated old house on a cliff in Dorset was never Orla’s dream, but her husband Nick is sure it’s the best place to raise their two small children: she agrees, before realising he plans still to work in Bristol all week. Back in 1976, Lydia has no desire to leave London, but accompanies her grieving, recently widowed employer for support, as nanny to her four children. The dream house in the country is a fictional standard for illuminating the realities of women’s domestic life; when the dream turns to nightmare, it’s the perfect setting for horror. This accomplished debut works on both levels as it tells two stories separated in time but linked by situation. Atmospheric and beautifully written, it builds slowly but surely into a terrifying ghost story.
