Starling House cover art

Starling House

The perfect dark, Gothic fairytale and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Starling House

By: Alix E. Harrow
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £9.33

Buy Now for £9.33

Season's Savings | £0.99/mo for 3 months

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly

Step into Starling House, if you dare . . .

Alix E. Harrow reimagines Beauty and the Beast in this gorgeously modern Gothic fantasy, perfect for fans of V. E. Schwab and Naomi Novik.


Opal is a lot of things – orphan, high-school dropout, full-time cynic. Most of all, she’s determined to find a better life for her younger brother. One that gets them both out of Eden, a town renowned for bad luck. So when Opal gets the chance to earn a good wage at Starling House, Eden’s very own haunted mansion, she can’t resist.

Her new workplace is uncanny and full of secrets ­­– just like Arthur, its brooding heir. It also feels strangely, dangerously, like something Opal never had: a home. As sinister forces converge on Eden, Opal realizes she might finally have found a reason to stick around. But now she’ll have to fight for it . . .

This is a romantic and spellbinding Gothic fairytale from Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award-shortlisted Alix E. Harrow.

Praise for Starling House


‘Alix E. Harrow is an exceptional, undeniable talent‘ – Olivie Blake, author of The Atlas Six

‘Alix E. Harrow’s greatest work yet‘ – Ava Reid, author of A Study in Drowning

‘This book has everything you could possibly want this fall . . . a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting‘ – Reese Witherspoon

**A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick**

Fans love Starling House:

‘This book is literally EVERYTHING TO ME’

‘This was the perfect mix of fantasy and horror’

‘I will never not be swooning over this book!’

‘10/10, no notes, will absolutely read again when I'm prepared to cry’

Action & Adventure Fantasy Fiction Gothic Horror Magic Paranormal Scary
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

This book has everything you could possibly want this fall . . . a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid and eerie setting—plus, characters willing to risk everything (Reese Witherspoon, Reese’s Book Club October 2023 Pick)
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, author of The Atlas Six)
Gorgeous, poignant, and honest—an unforgettable read (Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter)
The gaudy, dark seam between horror and romance. Starling House is Alix E. Harrow’s greatest work yet – if you can survive its slow belly-crawl into hell (Ava Reid, author of Juniper and Thorn)
This is gothic fairy tale at its best and truest: dark and romantic, angry and hopeful . . . I loved it (H.G. Parry, author of The Magician's Daughter)
This book is as knife-edged and sharp as its protagonist, a rich and strange exploration of home and need and want . . . A smart, spectacular contemporary Gothic (Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians)
This is one you’re going to love (Glamour Magazine)
Tender and triumphant . . . 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)
Alix E. Harrow is a fantasy author who just does not miss. This magical, heartfelt haunted house tale is no different (Paste Magazine)
Devastating, eerie and upbeat (SFX)
A spooky story about how hidden truths always come back to haunt you (Kirkus, Starred Review)
All stars
Most relevant
This is the first book I have read by this author. Starling House was in my Illumicrate book box. I sat and devoured it. Loved it so much that I then grabbed a copy on audible. The narrator did an incredible job bringing the book to life. Not giving any spoilers as the book blurb tells you all you need to know. It’s one I will keep reading.

Captivated from the start.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I loved the realistic brutality of our heroines reality, but she deserved more of a love story. No one cam ignore a secret THAT obvious and not get more of a spicy storyline.

Could of been more...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really enjoyed this.
I liked the narrator - as she gave it a real American feel.
The story is about a girl who has,essentially, lost everything. She only has her brother.
They live in Eden- a small wrecked town.
One day she gets a new job and her adventures start- or maybe they just continue…
Magical

A spellbinding story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Worth persevering despite there being too much description of the same thing. Magical but also the power of the psyche.

Great narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

this story wove its way through such a colourful pallete of characters, Alix's vocabulary and how she strings her descriptions together is fantastic, what a brilliant and imaginative writer she is.
I loved Opal and Arthur, the dreamland created and I just loved this book soooo much

beautifully eloquently wtitten

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews