Whether you’re in the mood for contemporary gothic horror or a poignant retold fairytale, T. Kingfisher has got you covered. In A House with Good Bones, just published on March 28th, there’s a modern woman who confronts familial terrors in a very creepy subdivision. And in Thornhedge, coming out this August, you can look forward to a dark but warmhearted retelling of Sleeping Beauty. In both of these books, you’ll get the practicality, kindness, humor, and gripping plots that T. Kingfisher fans already know to expect.
I think it’s nice for the world that Ursula Vernon, often writing as T. Kingfisher, is as prolific as she is. Her most recent book, Illuminations, came out only a few months ago and now we already have another to enjoy and only a few months to wait until the next.
Vernon writes in a range of fantasy-adjacent genres—everything from fanciful graphic narratives for children to adult fantasy romance and horror—but all her books share a fundamental kindness and an engrossing writing style that I think a lot of us really need. Frequently. This is a time when progressive escapism is vital.
A House With Good Bones
T. Kingfisher
Nightfire, Tor Books
March 28, 2023
In A House with Good Bones, our protagonist Sam heads to her childhood home for some quality time with her mother. Unlike many Gothic heroines, Sam is a level-headed, reliable and practical person. With an unexpected break in her cool science job, she is looking forward to time with her equally practical and likable mom.
However, once she arrives at the home of her late and domineering grandmother, where her mom has been living by herself, things start to go wrong. As Sam starts to uncover troubling information about her family’s past, it becomes clear this past is still threatening her family today.
As compared to both of the other T Kingfisher horror novels I’ve read and enjoyed, The Twisted Ones and The Hollow Places, I found A House with Good Bones the most terrifying, and also the most engaging.
Sam and her mom are great characters, and their warm interactions with each other and their equally likable quirky neighbors make the dangers to them in their own home even more harrowing. The fact that Sam is a realistic entomologist I’d like to hang out with, should preclude her from the kinds of horrors I associate with wispy waifs who doubt their own sanity in more traditional gothic texts. But it doesn’t, and I’m afraid for her like I’d be afraid for a friend.
Thornhedge
T. Kingfisher
Tor
August 15, 2023
As a fairytale, Thornhedge is technically a different genre from A House with Good Bones. However, as with many of T. Kingfisher’s books, there is a lot of thematic overlap. The protagonist of Thornhedge is Toadling, unlovely to look at, but a kind and conscientious guardian of a terror within a tower. It’s her fault the terror is there, and she is wracked with guilt about the task she feels she bungled all those years ago, resulting in this situation.
She’s been there for generations, guarding, when a gentle knight shows up and things start to happen.
Like A House with Good Bones, Thornhedge presents a protagonist dealing with past trauma. Toadling is stuck in this guardian role because of a terrifying violence that she feels responsible for in the past. She hasn’t been healed by the intervening centuries.
Together with A House with Good Bones, Thornhedge poses questions about family, obligations, and the possibility of moving on. While those questions may not be definitively answered, they are explored in a compassionate way. And perhaps most importantly, thanks to Kingfisher’s excellent pacing and relatable heroines, they’re fun to read.
