House of Cotton

A Novel

By: Monica Brashears

Narrated by: Jeanette Illidge

Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

A stunning contemporary Black Southern gothic novel about what it means to be a poor woman in the God-fearing South. The perfect audiobook if you loved The Other Black Girl and Luster.

“Every page, every scene, every sentence of Monica Brashears’s debut novel House of Cotton dazzles and surprises. An intense, enthralling, and deeply satisfying read!”—Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

"A new, dazzling, and essential American voice."—George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo

"Narrator Jeanette Illidge gives voice to Magnolia as she tackles racial, religious, and power dynamics with strength while still allowing her tenderness and fragility to show. Brashear weaves an intriguing, if wandering, novel, full of twisty turns and mysteries. The gloomy atmosphere is oppressive, felt strongly through the characters and narration."—Library Journal

Magnolia Brown is nineteen years old, broke, and effectively an orphan. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, her predatory landlord, and the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown.

One night, while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia’s luck around with a lucrative “modeling” job at his family’s funeral home. She accepts. But despite things looking up, Magnolia’s problems fatten along with her wallet. When Cotton’s requests become increasingly weird, Magnolia discovers there’s a lot more at stake than just her rent.

Sharp as a belted knife, this sly social commentary cuts straight to the bone. House of Cotton will keep you mesmerized until the very end.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

©2023 Monica Brashears (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“A beautiful book about the strange contours of grief.”—Raven Leilani, author of Luster, winner of the NBCC John Leonard Prize

"Startling, vivid, and impressive...Brashears has written a lush, pictorial, and often steamy novel with an indelible heroine. Coupling classic gothic elements with a realistic portrayal of the issues facing a young, poor, Black woman with few options, the novel’s many strengths culminate in a powerful and original story that will appeal to a variety of readers across fiction genres."—Booklist

"Monica Brashears is an immense talent, and her enchanting, strikingly original prose will astonish you. Magnolia is such a vivid, tender character: whip smart but deeply innocent, traumatized but also joyful and funny. Magnolia’s complex voice is nothing short of miraculous. House of Cotton is a powerful, seductive, and subversive novel."—Dana Spiotta, author of Eat the Document, winner of the Rosenthal Foundation Award

Hard listen.

Hard to follow and lots of pieces didn’t connect. The storylines and pieces were separate and hard to weave together by the end.

Southern Gothic

Beautiful performance! Heavy, real life plus supernatural creepiness. Took me out of my comfort zone with the abuse, rape, and death, but I’m glad I stayed with it. Not for the faint of heart!

Ok this is worth a listen

I enjoyed this story… it’s weird, and set in the 90s Lolo love that cuz who uses Skype anymore. It love the ghost factor. Ugh there are triggers for the less mature. If you can’t handle: sex outside with randos, black women: weird fetishes: abortion and death…this not for you, However if you enjoy a good read, great narration, and a twisted story.. give it a listen

Beautifully written and performed

I absolutely loved this book, complex and gorgeous prose. Highly recommend it and would relisten to catch all the stuff I missed the first round.
. Performance was incredible.

strange tales of death and happiness

I enjoyed this book mainly because it was different. The narrator tells a story of herself and the journey she finds herself in, the people she meets along the way, and the ones she has lost.
I enjoyed the performance.

Ending?

I feel like I lost, misplaced, the ending!? Not a story but a diatribe. What?

This story wasn’t for me.

TW: rape, abortion, abuse and addiction

I love a good story with characters that haunt you long after you finish reading and unfortunately this story wasn’t that for me. I had a hard time finding the motivation to finish but I really wanted to see it through. It’s obvious that the author is a talented writer but this story was just too weird for me to get into it. I felt like small events of the book were carved out in great detail while main plot points fell short and left me confused and wondering what was happening. At the end of the book I didn’t feel like much of the story was resolved and I felt the ending was rushed. This book had some good reviews so I was looking forward to reading it and maybe others will love the story but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Loved it

Great story and excellent performance. Could not stop listening. Hope to see more from this author

Not my favorite

Not a fan of the abuse or predatory themes. It was well written and well performed, but I couldn’t wait for it to end.

Confused

I’m not sure what the author was trying to achieve in the story. I kept listening hoping that it would come full circle and provide some sort of a satisfactory conclusion. I felt bad for the narrator who had to read the book out load.
Glad it’s done.