“With her latest, Carmen plunges the depths of grief and new found romance with a ghostly tale set in the home of a strange mystic.”
Untethered by her husband’s death, suffering from writer’s block, Saoirse White makes the move to Providence and the historic home of Sarah Helen Whitman, poet, spiritualist, and once courted by Edgar Allan Poe. The quiet rooms, tucked away rose garden, and cemetery at the back of the property should give Saoirse plenty of inspiration.
A trio of transcendentalists welcome Saoirse to the home. They are obsessed with Whitman, and her mystic beliefs. Saoirse welcomes her new friends, if only to keep the grief and loneliness at bay. Then she meets Emmit Powell. The charming prize-winning author sweeps Saoirse off her feet, making her feel she’s turned a corner.
Heartened by this new romance, Saoirse begins writing again, and there, she rediscovers herself. Yet, the old fears return, and she soon learns nothing about her new life is what it appears to be. A terrible secret she’s tried to bury for years may not be the only thing returning to haunt her.
Why we’re excited about this book:
Whether it’s visceral, hard-hitting scares, or creepy tales that haunt your nightmares, Christa Carmen always brings her A-game. The author of Something Borrowed, Something Blood Soaked and The Daughters of Block Island, Carmen’s short-fiction has been featured in such anthologies and publications as The Rack, Why Didn’t You Just Leave, We Are Providence, Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror, Vastarien, Nightmare Magazine, Not All Monsters, and Outpost 28 among others. With her latest, Carmen plunges the depths of grief and new found romance with a ghostly tale set in the home of a strange mystic. Katrina Monroe (Through the Midnight Door) says: “With lush, haunting prose to rival any classic, Beneath the Poet’s House twists patriarchal gothic tropes and gives new breath to old stereotypes in a story that is at once a historical reckoning, a desperate love story, and an intriguing mystery. Like a crooked finger beckoning the reader down a castle’s winding staircase, Carmen’s writing is impossible to resist. Mark my words: she will soon find her place among the gothic greats.”, and Zoje Stage (Dear Hanna, Baby Teeth) says: “With secrets as deep and dark as catacombs and lyrical writing befitting of its literary inspirations, Beneath the Poet’s House is a truly eerie page-turner.”
Releasing from Thomas & Mercer 10 Decemeber 2024, Beneath the Poet’s House by Christa Carmen is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA
