Where has Faith’s dad gone? Why has he left his family living in an old house perched on a crumbling cliff top? A crack has appeared in the cliff and Faith watches anxiously as it gets bigger and bigger each day… Her brother is obsessed with the sea ghosts he claims live in the basement, and when he disappears as well, Faith starts to believe in the ghosts too. Can she find her brother and bring her father back before everything she cares about falls into the pitiless sea below?
A brilliant mix of smugglers, family strife and adventure, The House On The Edge is a gripping, thrilling romp of a tale following the story of Faith who is trying against the odds to hold her family together following the disappearance of her dad, as her life literally and metaphorically crumbles around her...
At risk of losing her family home to nature and/or her greedy Uncle Art; not wanting to accept help or admit that things are spiralling out of control; facing the spectre of ghosts in her basement and trying to deal with her mum's mental health and wellbeing, the story reaches a dramatic climax when Noah, her younger brother, goes missing as he attempts to help.
I loved this....what a debut novel from Alex Cotter! A great, pacy plot, cracking characters (Faith herself, as well as Mrs Hollowbread, the grumpy teacher!), and the story being told first-person through Faith adding a real sense of engagement and empathy with/for everything that was going on.
I would thoroughly recommend it as an exciting read for fans of mystery/history and authors such as Fleur Hitchcock, Emma Carroll, Michael Morpurgo etc. - the press release advocating it as Daphne du Maurier for beginners!
The House On The Edge is out in July 2021 from Nosy Crow (@NosyCrow).
You can preorder through their website nosycrow.com
Thank you to Nosy Crow for the advance copy to review here.
Review by Rich Simpson (@richreadalot) March 2021