The September House

By: Carissa Orlando

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

“Why run from a haunted house when you can stay and ignore the ghosts? Just when you thought you'd seen everything a haunted house novel could do, The September House comes along and delivers an eerie, darkly funny, and emotionally grounded book about the ghosts that haunt houses and marriages."– Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House

A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this thoroughly enjoyable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

©2023 Carissa Orlando (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Kimberly Farr narrates this creepy, mesmerizing story of Margaret and Hal, who purchase their dream home, a beautiful, haunted Victorian.... Farr masters every unique character, alive or dead, in this one-woman show." (AudioFile)

"Margaret is a delightfully well drawn protagonist, sturdy, unflappable, and often dryly funny, but as the narrative unfurls, we learn that the reasons for her strictly regimented behavior are neither simple nor pleasant...The September House is a surprising, engaging debut." - Vulture.com (Best Books of 2023)

“Every once in a while, a story comes along that fully upends a genre in the most beautiful way, essentially reinventing the notion of what’s possible within that genre. Now, author Carissa Orlando, a horror enthusiast, has written that very story.” - Shondaland.com

“The metaphor is layered and at times heartbreaking, as secrets held by both a house and a family come to light with terrifying poignancy in this wonderfully eerie debut.” - Library Journal (starred review)

Many morals to the story

The narrator was absolutely excellent and really represented all of the emotions that I believe the author wanted to portray. It was so much more than just a haunted house story. There is much to learn here.

NY Times Bestseller for Sure - if not already!

LOVED this book - the character Margaret was so lovable and I rooted for her the whole time. WOW this book made me laugh and cry! Get this book and write more Carissa - you have quickly become my favorite author.

The ending was great- the rest was a bit repetitive

I’m not upset to have listened to this one, the ending was redemptive enough to still warrant a good review! It does get repetitive, though, so if you struggle to tolerate that for many many many pages, you may want to look elsewhere. Again, though- the end was lovely!!

Horror comes in many forms.

I quite enjoyed this take on a haunted house. The dysfunctional family added to the pit in my stomach. The twists are surprising but not over the top, making this difficult to put down. This was an enjoyable read. I was scared, sad, angry and sympathetic of the characters thanks to the narrator. Well done.

Perfect haunted house tale

Perfect read for spooky season. Fantastic debut with more complexity than I expected. I thought the narrator was great for this.

Suspenseful

Awesome left on the edge of my seat. Was a little slow starting. I understand now. Alot of history!!!

It’s good

Although repetitive at times, this book was fun & ultimately satisfying. It’s supernatural tho, which I don’t normally like. For having nothing else to read and not wanting to waste a credit, no regrets.

Slow at first but gets there

It took me a bit to get into it but my stubbornness made me stick with it and it turned out to be better than I first thought.

Wow!!!

I don’t often feel like I don’t want to put a book down, but this book had me fully engaged from beginning to end. So many fascinating characters and such creative writing. I can truly say I have never listened to a book quite like this one. Verrry Interesting to say the least.

it's ok

I made myself finish it, but it was a chore. by the end I didn't really care what has happened. I think I expected it to be scary but it just got monotonous