At the Bottom of the Garden
A Novel
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- USD 8.99
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- USD 8.99
Descripción editorial
An unapologetic murderess becomes the guardian of two very unusual girls. What’s the worst that could happen?
“You’ll never look at the wicked stepmothers of fairy tales quite the same way again.”—Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Reluctant Immortals and The Haunting of Velkwood
“Camilla Bruce tills the macabre for all of its Edward Gorey glory . . . At the bottom of this particular garden you will find a wicked sense of humor.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
Clara Woods is a killer—and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flower bed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace—or so she’s always thought.
Then the girls arrive.
Lily and Violet are her nieces, recently orphaned after their affluent parents died on an ill-fated anniversary trip. In accordance with their parents’ will, the sisters are to go to their closest relative—who happens to be Clara. Despite having no interest in children, Clara agrees to take them, hoping to get her hands on some of the girls’ assets—not only to bolster her dwindling fortune but also to establish what she hopes will be her legacy: a line of diamond jewelry.
There’s only one problem. Violet can see the dead man at the bottom of the garden. She can see all of Clara’s ghosts . . . and call them back into existence. Soon Clara is plagued by her victims and at war with the gifted girls in her care. Lily and Violet have become a liability—and they know far more than they should. . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bruce (All the Blood We Share) goes gothic in this chilling fantastical horror novel. After preteen sisters Lily and Violet are orphaned, their wealthy parents' will stipulates they must live with their next nearest relative until elder sister Lily is 18. Unfortunately for them, all their kind, loving aunts and grandmothers have also died, and the only option left is cruel Aunt Clara. Clara is grasping and deceitful, much more interested in her late brother's millions than his daughters. But Lily and Violet are not ordinary girls: they have inherited magical powers from their mother's side of the family. Lily can tell from Clara's aura when she is lying—and Violet can see all the ghosts in Clara's rural mansion, including the kind old lady in the dining room and the angry man with terrible wounds who paces back and forth in the garden. The more of Clara's secrets the ghosts reveal, the more Lily and Violet must use their powers to avoid joining the ranks of these restless dead. The story loses focus somewhat in the final third as it strays from the claustrophobic mansion, but the combination of creepy folk-horror notes and tense, gory, and haunting scenes conjures plenty of scares. Readers will want to sleep with the lights on.
