Starling House

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

Starling House is a gorgeous, modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

I dream sometimes about a house I've never seen... .

Opal is a lot of things-orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier-but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.

All she left behind were dark rumors-and her home. Everyone agrees that it's best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.

I should be scared, but in the dream I don't hesitate.

Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House-and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund-she can't resist.

But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur's own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.

In my dream, I'm home.

And now she'll have to fight.

Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.

Tor Books | ISBN 9781250799050 | 336 pages. | October 1, 2024

1. How does Opal define home at the beginning of the novel and in the closing scenes? What would it have taken for the lodgings provided by Bev to feel like a true home?

2. Despite the wealth gap, what do Opal and Arthur have in common, both in their life stories and in their personalities? How does the balance of power shift between them? What do they ultimately need from each other?

3. What is the effect of reading the novel through Opal's fi rst-person eyes, with footnotes written in the voice of a careful researcher? How was the tale transformed when you read it from Eleanor's point of view in chapter 30? What is Charlotte's role as a librarian in trying to discern and preserve the truth, despite a multitude of versions of a single story?

4. What were your initial theories about the creatures haunting Arthur? How did your perception of him change throughout the novel?

5. As you were reading about Gravely Brothers Coal & Power, what historical truths emerged about the horrors of enslavement and environmental destruction in the American South? What motivated that violence, and what tethers Eden's residents to this place, despite it?

6. What tactics does Elizabeth Baine use to manipulate Opal? How are the actions of Innovative Solutions Consulting Group different from Opal's acts of theft and deception?

7. How did you react to the artwork that is featured throughout the book? What do the images express that words cannot?

8. Discuss Opal's scrubbing and sprucing up of Starling House as a metaphor for other types of restoration and excavation she experiences. What else is recovered besides the beauty of Starling House's architecture? How much agency does the house itself have?

9. How do Jasper and Opal's memories of their mother sustain them, and limit them? What is her legacy, both good and bad? Discuss the many types of parenting performed in the novel.

10. Eleanor fi rst thought there were cracks between a world of monstrous evil and our world, but eventually came to believe that the beasts were of our own making. What is your understanding of the evil forces that humanity has encountered through history-and the ingenuity of people like Opal who have conquered them?

11. How does Opal navigate her dream worlds? What strengths and fears are revealed when she sleeps?

12. Starling House has a vast library filled with books on folklore, mythology, and history. How do those books suggest the larger history of the Underland and the communities that encountered it?

"This book has everything you could possibly want this fall...a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting-plus, characters willing to risk everything." -Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club October '23 Pick)

A Book of the Month Club Pick
An October 2023 Indie Next Pick
A LibraryReads October 2023 Hall of Fame Pick
Apple, Best Books of October
EW.com, Fall Book Must Reads 2023
Washington Post, Noteworthy Books for October
Paste Magazine, The Must-Read Fantasy Books of Fall 2023
PopSugar Best New Fantasy Books of 2023
BookPage, Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2023
Observer, Must-Read Books of Fall 2023
Polygon, 12 Best New SFF for the Fall
LitHub, October's Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
Bookish, October's Most-Anticipated Books
Gizmodo, October's Huge List of New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books

"Alix E. Harrow is an exceptional, undeniable talent, and Starling House, with its gentle reassurances of the homes we make and the love we deserve, is more than satisfying. It's pure loveliness in book form." -Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

"Gorgeous, poignant, and honest-an unforgettable read." -Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

"As knife-edged and sharp as its protagonist...A smart, spectacular contemporary Gothic that will leave its roots in you and linger in your dreams." -Kat Howard, Alex Award-winning author of An Unkindness of Magicians

"Harrow's lyrical prose propels this contemporary Southern gothic, offering an atmospheric fairy tale with delightfully jagged-edged characters." -EW.com

"From Ten Thousand Doors of January to A Mirror Mended, Alix E. Harrow is a fantasy author who just does not miss. This magical, heartfelt haunted house tale is no different." -Paste Magazine

"As sumptuous and romantic as it is sinister, Alix E. Harrow's foray into Southern gothic literature is a perfect book to ring in the start of spooky season." -Polygon

"Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January is one of those books where people who've read it fall all over themselves to push into other readers' hands (I am one such person) and her growing legion of devoted readers will be happy to know that Starling House is a full-bore masterpiece." -LitHub

"Starling House will no doubt take its place alongside fiction's most memorable haunted houses."-Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Harrow's mash-up of twisted fairy tales and Southern gothic fiction is a haunting story of longing, lies, and generational curses." -Library Journal, starred review