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The Cold House

Hardcover
$19.99 US
5-1/8"W x 8"H | 20 oz | 12 per carton
On sale Oct 07, 2025 | 144 Pages | 9781835412541

When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate and utterly compelling horror novella from the award-winning author. Perfect for fans of Rachel Harrison, Delilah S. Dawson, Sarah Gailey and Sarah-Maria Griffin.

Writer Everly Bainbridge's life is left in ruins when her husband takes their child to the supermarket one day and a lorry collides with their car. After the accident, a lawyer appears on her doorstep and tells her her husband was not who he said he was and she is a very rich widow. She retreats to a lonely house in the countryside to recover. But there’s a well in the cellar, a spectacularly cold room, and one night, Everly wakes up with a foot hanging over the emptiness of the well and the echo of her daughter’s voice in her ears…

A short, sharp, emotionally layered story of horrific secrets and dangerous lies, this dark, fierce gem of a novella will keep you turning the pages late into the night…
Praise for A.G. Slatter:


"Angela plays by her own rules. She's fantastic"
Hilarie Burton-Morgan, actress and author of Grimoire Girl


"Slatter writes witches like none other, and her newest is a darkling feast, jewelled and blood-stained, rich with secrets and seething with unbearable power."
Cassandra Khaw, author of The Salt Grows Heavy


“Harrowing and beautiful, this is the grim, fairy-tale gothic you’ve been waiting for... Don’t miss it!”
Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and The House of Last Resort


“Part fantasy adventure, part dark fairytale, and all sharp teeth as the latest of her bright, fierce heroines is forced to grapple with the bonds of family, legacy, and love in order to save her world. I eagerly await the next book in the Sourdough universe!”
Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch’s Heart and The Weaver and the Witch Queen


"Slatter nestles stories within stories, immersing readers in a richly imagined world, and leading them on a journey full of unexpected twists and turns. This is an expertly woven tale of intrigue, magic, family, and righting old wrongs."
A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling


"When I reviewed A.G. (Angela) Slatter's 2022 novel The Path of Thorns, I said she was one of the best contemporary fantasists in the field. But I was wrong; my vision was too narrow. Angela is simply one of the best contemporary writers of fiction, regardless of genre... The Briar Book of the Dead is everything I love about Slatter's fiction: the craft, the passion for narrative, and the foregrounding of strong, smart, singular women. More, please."
Locus
A.G. Slatter has won a Shirley Jackson Award, a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, three Australian Shadows Awards and eight Aurealis Awards. Most recently, All the Murmuring Bones was shortlisted for the 2021 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year and the 2021 Shirley Jackson Award; The Path of Thorns won the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel and the 2022 Australian Shadows Award for Best Novel. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. Angela’s short stories have appeared in many Best Of anthologies, and her work has been translated into many languages. She lives in Brisbane, Australia.

About

When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate and utterly compelling horror novella from the award-winning author. Perfect for fans of Rachel Harrison, Delilah S. Dawson, Sarah Gailey and Sarah-Maria Griffin.

Writer Everly Bainbridge's life is left in ruins when her husband takes their child to the supermarket one day and a lorry collides with their car. After the accident, a lawyer appears on her doorstep and tells her her husband was not who he said he was and she is a very rich widow. She retreats to a lonely house in the countryside to recover. But there’s a well in the cellar, a spectacularly cold room, and one night, Everly wakes up with a foot hanging over the emptiness of the well and the echo of her daughter’s voice in her ears…

A short, sharp, emotionally layered story of horrific secrets and dangerous lies, this dark, fierce gem of a novella will keep you turning the pages late into the night…

Praise

Praise for A.G. Slatter:


"Angela plays by her own rules. She's fantastic"
Hilarie Burton-Morgan, actress and author of Grimoire Girl


"Slatter writes witches like none other, and her newest is a darkling feast, jewelled and blood-stained, rich with secrets and seething with unbearable power."
Cassandra Khaw, author of The Salt Grows Heavy


“Harrowing and beautiful, this is the grim, fairy-tale gothic you’ve been waiting for... Don’t miss it!”
Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and The House of Last Resort


“Part fantasy adventure, part dark fairytale, and all sharp teeth as the latest of her bright, fierce heroines is forced to grapple with the bonds of family, legacy, and love in order to save her world. I eagerly await the next book in the Sourdough universe!”
Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch’s Heart and The Weaver and the Witch Queen


"Slatter nestles stories within stories, immersing readers in a richly imagined world, and leading them on a journey full of unexpected twists and turns. This is an expertly woven tale of intrigue, magic, family, and righting old wrongs."
A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling


"When I reviewed A.G. (Angela) Slatter's 2022 novel The Path of Thorns, I said she was one of the best contemporary fantasists in the field. But I was wrong; my vision was too narrow. Angela is simply one of the best contemporary writers of fiction, regardless of genre... The Briar Book of the Dead is everything I love about Slatter's fiction: the craft, the passion for narrative, and the foregrounding of strong, smart, singular women. More, please."
Locus

Author

A.G. Slatter has won a Shirley Jackson Award, a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, three Australian Shadows Awards and eight Aurealis Awards. Most recently, All the Murmuring Bones was shortlisted for the 2021 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year and the 2021 Shirley Jackson Award; The Path of Thorns won the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel and the 2022 Australian Shadows Award for Best Novel. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. Angela’s short stories have appeared in many Best Of anthologies, and her work has been translated into many languages. She lives in Brisbane, Australia.