We Live Here Now

Emily has come close to dying, and the life she has been given back is quiet and careful. Her husband Freddie nursed her through the illness, and together they have left London for Larkin Lodge, a handsome country house on Dartmoor, hoping to start over.

The house troubles her almost at once. Floorboards creak at set times, fires die in the grate, and books slide off their shelves. A room on the third floor makes her want to keep her distance. Each incident happens while she is alone.

That is the difficulty. Sepsis has left Emily with a condition that can cause hallucinations, so anything she reports can be read as a symptom, and Freddie has good reason to read it that way. Her own account is the weakest evidence she has.

This is a haunted house story and a marriage story at once, and the two strands darken together. The book keeps two readings open: the house may hold something, or the trouble may lie between the couple, since both of them are keeping secrets from the other. Expect a slow tightening of unease, with the question of which danger is worse still unsettled near the close.