My Darling Dreadful Thing

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My Darling Dreadful Thing

By: Johanna van Veen

Narrated by: Jess Nesling

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About this listen

If the dead can wake and walk among us, how can we know what is truly real?

Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the light of Roos' life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos' backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.

Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air at night, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.

Then, someone is murdered.

Poor, alone, and with a history of 'hysterics', Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she'll have to prove who—or what—is at fault or lose everything she holds dear....

Ghosts

Horror

Psychological

Romance

Thriller & Suspense

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Critic reviews

"Horrifies as acutely as it delights… a force to be reckoned with and will stain your thoughts a brilliant shade of crimson."—Rachel Gillig, New York Times bestselling author of One Dark Window

"A sapphic seance of preternatural proportions, My Darling Dreadful Thing summons a stunning new literary voice to be reckoned with."—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

"This book got under my skin, all the way down to the marrow. It's as dark as a grave and throbbing with queer desire. I won't forget it."—Kirsty Logan, author of Now She is Witch

Most relevant

Maybe I'm just a sucker for a Spooky Sapphics, but I loved this.

It's probably a really good entry into horror too, it's more spooky than outright scary, and it keeps relationships at the forefront of the story most of the time. I have read both the physical and the audiobook versions and definitely think audiobook is such a perfect format for a story like this, it's narrated well and Jess gives the characters such a lovely delicate, almost cosy vibe which is so jarring from the context of the story.

If you're looking for spooky queer horror romances, which, yes, maybe a niche genre (but a personal favourite of mine) really give this one a shot.

Spooky, Sapphic and Slightly Saccharine