Beth and Nils spent the latter part of September getting ready for the spooky season by buddy reading Alix E Harrow’s upcoming gothic haunted-house novel STARLING HOUSE.

This is their third buddy read of a Harrow story, so let’s find out what the book is about, and then their thoughts! (They’ve tried to avoid any major spoilers)

Step into Starling House – if you dare…

Nobody in Eden remembers when Starling House was built. But the town agrees it’s best to let this ill-omened mansion – and its last lonely heir – go to hell. Stories of the house’s bad luck, like good china, have been passed down the generations.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses, or brooding men. But when an opportunity to work there arises, the money might get her brother out of Eden. Starling House is uncanny and full of secrets – just like Arthur, its heir. It also feels strangely, dangerously, like something she’s never had: a home. Yet Opal isn’t the only one interested in the horrors and the wonders that lie buried beneath it.

Sinister forces converge on Eden – and Opal realizes that if she wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it. Even if it involves digging up her family’s ugly past to achieve a better future. She’ll have to go down, deep down beneath Starling House, to claw her way back to the light…

We always like to start with what we were expecting from the story…

Beth: I always really look forward to Alix E. Harrow’s books; I love the themes of stories and their importance, and they always make me cry! This one seemed like it might be different to her earlier books, I was expecting it to be darker, and I was looking forward to finding out if narratives still play an important part – and of course, they did. And of course, I cried buckets.

Nils: Ever since I read Harrow’s debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January I fell completely in love with her storytelling, her skilful way with words and her characters that somehow always feel like real people, so my expectations are always pretty high when diving into a new book by this author. I’ve actually always wanted a gothic tale by Harrow, I feel she’s a queen at creating atmosphere which would work perfectly for a haunted house setting and as Beth has mentioned this is an author who always explores the theme of stories and I was curious how she would apply that here. And like Beth, this made me cry too. 

And what were our first impressions?

Nils: The novel begins with our main character, Opal, dreaming of a house she has never been to and feeling a pull towards it and in turn I immediately felt Harrow pulling me into the story. 

Beth: It was a very strong first impression for me. The first line was literally:

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen

And it had such strong du Maurier vibes, I thought oh god I’m going to love this one.

Nils: I really need to read some du Maurier!

Everything begins a mystery, a kind of riddle and I loved this. What is within Starling House? Is it really as fearsome as the residents of Eden make out? Why is it occupying Opal’s dreams, or more accurately her nightmares? Myself and Beth were messaging each other back and forth discussing all the possibilities but also wanting to just devour the entire book to find out. Beth, you raced through the opening chapters, didn’t you?

Beth: I really did. I’ve had to go back through that first chapter to renew my sense of what drew me in so strongly. It was definitely the mystery of the house itself in that opening chapter, why should our protagonist be dreaming about it, why is it this ostracised place that’s attracted these urban legends. Like you say above, Nils, the house has a pull on her, it’s calling her, and I felt that same pull into the story. But I found Opal herself a riddle too, already just in that first chapter with just a couple of strokes Harrow paints a picture of someone who has not had an easy life, and I immediately wanted to know why. There’s her strange book that was immediately relatable; I think everyone has that one book that they read as a child that no-one else, years later, has heard of but you were absolutely obsessed with. And finally, there are the footnotes. Someone, some mystery footnote narrator, is going back over our protagonist’s first person narrative and fact checking it.

Nils: Oh yes the footnotes! I forgot to say this is the first time I’ve ever enjoyed reading footnotes. Usually I find they pull me out of the story but here they heightened my curiosity more! Did you have a theory Beth of who was writing the footnotes?

Beth: I don’t think we’re ever told who it is? But my suspicion would be the librarian? Does she say at some point she’s researching Starling House?

Nils: Yes, she does. That’s why she’s gathered all those books at the back of Starling House which she lets Opal look through. 

Beth: We might be on to something there, then! But the footnotes create that framed narrative, which is such a Gothic staple and I am here for it. It tells me, straight from the off, that Opal’s story is such a story that someone has, at some point later, collated information and researched and documented it. I can’t wait to find out why. 

What did we make of the characters first up?

Nils: The first characters we meet are Opal and her teenage brother, Jasper  and Beth actually summed up her character perfectly in one sentence: “she’s a very Alix E Harrow type of character” which I absolutely agreed with.

Beth: Ha, it was like one of the first things I said to you when I started reading!

“Opal, our main character, is very extremely typical of an Alix Harrow character. Like she’s different to January, and whatshername [Zinnia, past me] in the fractured fables, but there’s the same kind of edge to her as them, the same wandering need?”

Nils: Yes, and there was that same determination to survive and make the best of the situation they are in. Harrow’s females never wallow, they never give up and I wholly appreciate that. 

However, it was the interactions between characters that I really enjoyed seeing established. The banter between brother and sister, the way they both looked after one another but with Opal taking on the protective guardian role, and the way you could tell Jasper was far more capable than Opal gave him credit for. 

Beth: The interactions between Harrow’s characters are always so natural and believable, aren’t they? They are never cliched, and yet they are utterly recognisable. I’ll be honest, the fact Jasper was more capable than Opal gave him credit for was lost on me, I was there with Opal worrying for him, wanting the best for him, absolutely believing that he needed everything she was sacrificing for him.I took Opal’s world very much on the face value she presented it, and just like her, didn’t question any of it. Yes this character is extremely flawed and extremely tightly wound but why should her perspective be skewed? xD

Nils: I knew there was more to Jasper than this soft hearted, shy and sheltered boy that Opal saw him as, but I didn’t expect him to be quite as capable as he was! I think Harrow did a great job realistically portraying the siblings because in the need to protect and look after each other they can be blinded to other things.

Then we meet the Warden of Starling House, Arthur and his interactions with Opal were priceless! Beth, we absolutely loved the awkwardness between these two characters, didn’t we?! Arthur Starling does not know how to communicate well and I loved him all the more for it! 

Beth: Basically you had flawed disaster Opal and flawed disaster Arthur and every single moment between them was deliciously painful. Like watching the person before you in the queue tell the shop assistant “love you” instead of “thank you” and then walk into the closed door on the way out. That was their relationship. But, you know, with added world shattering secrets, blackmail and petty theft.

Nils: You summed that up perfectly!! Lol 

Focusing on Opal, Harrow likes a flawed character and she stuck to what she does well here. What did you make of Opal’s flaws?

Nils: This line really emotionally got to me:

“Dreams aren’t for people like me.

People like me have to make two lists: what they need and what they want. You keep the first list short, if you’re smart, and you burn the second one.”

This is Opal’s sort of mantra throughout the book, she has very little she wants for herself other than to give her brother the best opportunities for a brighter future, a proper education doing things he loves. 

Beth: I’d argue she doesn’t see that as a Want, she counts that as a Need. She needs to get her brother out of that town and into a place with prospects. There isn’t anything at all she wants for herself, she doesn’t let herself want anything. She considers that a privilege she can’t afford and it’s heartbreaking.

Nils: You’re right there Beth. Getting Jasper out of Eden is her only goal, her only purpose for everything she does. So yes, Opal is flawed, she lies constantly, she steals mercilessly, she’ll manipulate if she has to and she refuses to ask for help or let anyone see her vulnerability. However in true Harrow style we are shown that these flaws are necessary for a young woman like Opal to survive, this is what she feels she needs to hold her head above water and not give in to despair. 

Beth: And yet she never talked about blame, did she? Not for a long time, at any rate. She did what she needed to, to survive and keep herself and her brother together.

Nils: No, she never once blamed anyone, even though she recognised her mother never gave her or Jasper the best start in life or left them with the means to have a better future.

Beth: It takes her a while to finally see that, and omg when she did it was so moving, wasn’t it? Having lost her mother, she couldn’t possibly lose him too, and I think her refusal to accept help was born from this idea that no-one could think she needed help or they might take him away from her. But of course, that fear becomes so deeply rooted within her, that she becomes blind to various realities around her. That she doesn’t need to be so isolated and insular – she doesn’t even recognise when people are in fact helping her. She doesn’t recognise a world where things don’t cost something.

Anyone we didn’t like?

Beth: There were plenty of unlikable people here, representing wider unpleasant aspects of society and themes. You had the small-minded local policeman whose power had gone to his head, for example. But I think the ones I disliked the most was Jasper’s friend’s family? Opal is white, but Jasper’s dad was Latin American, and there are so many examples of micro-racism towards him. His friend’s family foster children, but send them on their way soon enough as and how they like; they like to be seen to be charitable, but only when it suits them. They love to welcome Jasper to their home and feed him, and pass him down hand-me-downs; but they don’t help Opal in any way, they don’t ensure she’s had a hot meal, they treat her with contempt. Jasper is the poster boy for their visual charity, and is happy enough to take advantage of their white saviour routine so it’s not like he’s not clued up to what they’re doing.

Nils: Opal saw this in them too. Her animosity towards them at first glance could be taken as jealousy that they could provide Jasper with what she always couldn’t, but looking deeper it’s because Opal could see their “help” also made them look more charitable, more generous and a lot of it was for show. I think at one point they did offer Opal a meal or their leftovers, but it was followed by a lecture on Starling House and how it wasn’t proper for Opal to be seen near it. So it was clear their “good intentions” always came with a cost.

Beth: If anything, there was something insulting about the way they asked, although I’m not sure if that was Opal’s paranoia flavouring the perspective.

Nils: I actually didn’t like Bev, the motel owner, very much at first. I thought she was cruel switching off their internet, constantly reminding Opal she lives there rent-free, casting a judging eye on a young girl barely scraping by. Yet Harrow did a fantastic job with her character because we slowly see she’s not like that at all and what I mistook for judgement turned out to be genuine concern. 

Beth: Aw I liked Bev! I liked that she used to switch the internet off, it was her way of drawing Opal out of the motel room so that she could check on her, because if she’d gone and knocked on the door to check on her, Opal would never trust her. 

Nils: Yes! You see I didn’t realise that’s why she was doing it until later on! 

What did you make of Harrow exploring a story within a story and how they alter over time? 

Nils: This is an aspect which Harrow always explores really well. 

Beth: Harrow always plays with stories in her, well, stories. Which version of a story is true dependent on who is telling it, and this was a big theme explored here. There were so many different versions of the story of Starling House and its founder, each coloured differently by a different prejudice or other. I loved that everyone had a different side of it to tell Opal, and she learned something new with each layer; and yet her actual experience of the house was so different to each story she was told. I think she related to this, as of course there were plenty of stories going around about her, as there were plenty of stories going around about her mother and her death. None of those stories reflected the truth Opal knew, so she connected to the house like it was a kindred spirit.

Nils: That’s an excellent point. Opal could easily dismiss the rumours about Starling House because she knew in a small town such as Eden prejudices always coloured how people perceived things, especially when concerning her mother or concerning a house she was drawn to. I think this quote sums it up well: 

“They simply told themselves a different story, one that was easier to believe because they’d heard it before: Once there was a bad woman who ruined a good man. Once there was a witch who cursed a village. Once there was an odd, ugly girl whom everyone hated, because it was safe to hate her.”

Yet Opal knew that each story of the House held some element of truth, a thread which held each retelling together and her drive to discover the truth was the same drive we had.

Beth: Ah that’s such a great quote Nils! It’s always women who get the blame!

Let’s take a look at the themes inherent, what did we particularly enjoy?

Nils: Grief and loneliness are big themes throughout, not only for Opal but for Arthur Starling too. Opal isn’t the only one to have lost her parents and as much as she struggles to come to terms with the loss, so does Arthur. 

Beth: They’ve both had to parcel up their grief and set it to one side in the face of more important responsibilities. When Opal has her breakdown, it’s a good representation of just how unhealthy this is. I loved following Opal and Arthur slowly learn to be there for each other.

Nils: This is what made me sob so much, particularly at the end. Opal’s breakdown and then her realising that she can rely on others for help, that she can be there for Arthur and he can be there for her because they’re two sides of the same coin.

Beth: Oh that’s perfectly put Nils! Yes! 

I also really loved all the mysticism around dreams, nightmares, protective wards and spiritualism. I loved Arthur’s research into all this in his attempts to try to understand his environment.

Nils: Yes, this was another aspect I loved too. I loved the theme of monsters, the human kind and the fantasy kind. And the way both Opal and Arthur were the only ones who could keep the monsters at bay and banish them once and for all by taking away their power. 

Beth: Finally, the “villain” of this story represented a great theme too, that privileged consumerist greed for power, that uncaring destructive nature towards the environment, community, individuals, even family. The levels of harm it can do, I think that was one of the scariest aspects of the story for me.

Did you find it as scary as the marketing makes out?

Nils: I think this one has more of a dark atmosphere than it does actual scary scenes. The house is vividly described throughout with Harrow portraying its unsettling appearance and it does seem like a really creepy eerie mansion:

“The gates of Starling House don’t look like much from a distance- just a dense tangle of metal half-eaten by rust and ivy, held shut by a padlock so large it almost feels rude- -but up close you can make out individual shapes: clawed feet and legs with too many joints, scaled backs and mouths full of teeth, heads with empty holes for eyes.”

Yet, this illusion somewhat changes once we step foot inside the house and we realise what is most horrific in this story is the history the house holds. Also, as I’ve mentioned, the monsters are a constant threat throughout which was made all the more ominous by not really knowing what they looked like until the end. They’re not scary as such, or at least I didn’t think so, but anyone used to reading dark fantasy is used to monsters! 

Beth: I agree with you, I’d definitely describe this as more atmospheric than scary. It’s a haunted house kind of set up, but I don’t think at any point I actually felt scared of the house? It’s like it was a character in of itself and I actually started to really love it, it’s definitely one of my favourite characters. I think the monsters are supposed to be quite scary, and there are scenes of violence, but again like you Nils, I’ve read enough fantasy to know the scariest monsters aren’t the ones with teeth and claws. What they were manifestations of was much scarier. I found Elizabeth Baine one of the scariest figures in the whole story; she’s an anonymous type official who is trying to find out the truth about Starling House, and the way she seems to have unlimited resources and access to personal information about Opal, I found that scary. 

Nils: Oh that bitch Elizabeth Baine! Her threatening Jasper all the while had me so worried for him throughout. Yeah I have to agree with Beth, it was her and her ability to know everything about you that was the most scary. 

Did you find any favourite quotes? 

Nils: Honestly I had a dozen favourite quotes because Harrow just has an incredible way with words. She’s an author who can pack so much emotion, atmosphere and even characterisation in every sentence. Starling House is where Alix E Harrow shines her brightest yet. It’s a tale which completely absorbs you with its unsettling and equally beautiful storytelling.

The two following quotes are so gorgeously written in the way they are incredibly sad portrayals of Opal and Arthur:

“My life is already so much dimmer without Starling House. I feel like one of those maidens stolen back from the fairies, blinking the glamour from her eyes to find that her silken gown was made of cobwebs and her crown was nothing but bracken. Or maybe like one of the Pevensies, an ordinary kid who was once a king. I wonder if the feeling will fade. If the memory of a single season will be buried beneath the weight of ordinary years, until it is just a story, just another little lie. If I will learn to be content with enough, and forget that I was ever foolish enough to want more.”

–

“The sword arcs and bites, hacks and sings, cutting so quickly through the air it leaves a silvered trail behind it. There’s no beauty to his movements, no grace. He doesn’t look like a dancer. He looks like a boy who wanted to grow flowers but was handed a sword instead.

He looks like a man who gave up on hope a long time ago, but who keeps fighting anyway, on and on. He looks like a Warden of Starling House, gone to war.”

Beth: I’ve gone back through our whatsapp, whenever I find a quote I love I always have to send it to you straight away!

Nils: We shared a lot of quotes whilst reading!

Beth: Talking about grief and loss, this little moment made me really cry. Arthur and the House are always quite destructive to each other, they reminded me of siblings who pushed each other away instead of finding solace in each other and it just utterly broke me:

“He remembers, reluctantly, the first time he walked back into the House after finding his parents’ bodies. The black mourning cloths across every mirror, the mournful groans of the stairs. He’d been too furious to care, too selfish to see the grief in it.”

Then there was this quote:

“I saw plenty. I saw the mist cleave, I saw the river rise. I saw that dreams were dangerous, so I folded mine up and shoved them under the bed along with the rest of my childhood.”

The monsters that live under Opal’s bed are her dreams and her memories of her childhood and god I just thought that was so painfully poignant.

Nils we didn’t talk about Hellcat! If anything is a metaphor in this book for something being too prickly to love, it’s this bloody cat!

“Despite daily threats to the contrary, Arthur does not toss out the hellcat.

She spends the first day skulking from room to room like a spy infiltrating an enemy camp. I catch glimpses of iridescent eyes under couches and dressers, a puffed-up tail disappearing behind a headboard. At lunch I discover her in the kitchen, hunched possessively over a small porcelain plate of tuna.”

Nils: How could I forget Hellcat! So much like a real cat and also not! I loved Arthur’s reaction to her at first and then his acceptance of her presence and the way he looks after her. I love that as spiky as she was she gave him company. 

Starling House is due for release 31st October – the perfect Halloween read. You can order your copy on Bookshop.org