House of Frank by Kay Synclaire is a beautiful, whimsical, and heart-wrenching story about grief, trust, and found family. This is Ezeekat Press’s first book published under Bindery Books, a publisher powered by the bookish community, and I was absolutely blown away by the depth and craft of Synclaire’s debut novel.

Like most of the online bookish community, I was very curious about the concept of Bindery where well-known bookish influencers publish books under their own Bindery imprints. This is the second Bindery ARC that I have read this month and so far the calibre of book that they are producing has been far more impressive than most of the new books I have picked up from big publishers in recent months. If this is the path that Bindery continue to carve out for themselves, then the publishing world may look considerably different in the next few years.

In this story we follow Saika who has come to the Ash Arboretum to finally plant the ashes of her sister after two long years of putting it off. Frank (a cardigan-wearing beast who runs the Arboretum with the help of bickering cherubs, a cantankerous elf, a fairy chef, and more) greets her at the door and welcomes her into the safest space Saika’s been in for a long time. Unable to bring herself to bury her sister right away, Saika accepts Frank’s offer to work in the Arboretum until she’s ready. With the help of her new friends, Saika gently peels away the layers of her grief and and discovers that she’s not the only one living with tragedy and regrets. Together, they might just be able to keep the Arboretum running through the constant storms and other obstacles thrown their way.  

This world is introverted, warm, and welcoming while still evoking a sense of wonder and awe. If you classify fantasy as ‘cosy’ based on the setting alone, then this is definitely it. However the broader story deals with some potentially stressful and upsetting topics (check the triggers at the front), so don’t pick it up if you aren’t prepared to have your emotions utterly mangled (in a good way).

This story uses concepts that every fantasy fan will be familiar with, and therefore avoids dollops of clunky lore dumping. The characters all follow the classic rules of fantasy: witches fly brooms, ghosts are invisible, and fairies are tiny, tinkly things, but Synclaire still manages to put her own little twist on the magic system without things getting confusing.

The characters are the highlight of the book for me. There’s no shortage of them and they’re memorable and individual and they each bring their own flavours to the rich soup of comedy and tragedy. If you like the found family trope, this story practically wallows in it, as well as grumpy/sunshine dynamics and queer and trans representation. Oh, and there’s a pet dragon too.

Synclaire’s writing binds all these elements together in simple, yet evocative prose in which Saika address her dead sister, writing her letters that she’ll never read in order to process her grief and the circumstances that she had brought upon herself. This choice to write in a partial second-person narrative only adds to the emotion mangling mentioned above. This book wouldn’t work anywhere near as well without this front seat view into Saika’s thoughts and feelings and adds to the intrigue when she hints at elements of her story that she hasn’t been comfortable enough to divulge just yet. We wait patiently with Frank and the rest of the group until Saika is ready to talk, and until then we share family meals, undertake chores, and get to know the motley crew that resides in the Ash Arboretum.

This is a beautiful story for those wanting to explore themes of grief, found families, and the importance of having a variety of relationships in your life.

House of Frank is due for release 15th October 2024. You can pre-order your copy HERE