The debut novel by Tabitha Potts, The House of Dust and Shadows, is a gothic thriller with all the right beats: family secrets, mysterious apparitions, and crumbling mansions. The novel starts with the discovery of a body, but the corpse is only one piece of this multi-threaded novel. From there, the reader is quickly treated to gruesome dreams, sudden deaths, and family drama.
The three Landimoor sisters grew up in Blackthorn Manor under the care of Robert Landimoor, although “care” is a generous term. An artist by profession, Robert isn’t much of a father. Parenting is up to his first wife to raise the oldest two sisters, Lucia and Isabella (Izzy), and his second wife to raise his last daughter, Sara. While the book changes perspectives frequently, it’s Sara who has the most page time. Much younger and reserved, Sara admired her older sisters when she was a child. Now, she’s an adult dealing with adult problems when a tragedy occurs to the Landimoor family. Will Lucia, Izzy, and Sara return to the house where they grew up and join together to face the threats, both internal and external, that may ruin the family?
The book moves effortlessly from character to character and back and forth in time. At the start of each chapter is a description of an item from the estate up for auction. This is a clever way of building a backstory and immersing the reader in a concise paragraph. The three sisters are quite different from each other, and the way the novel progresses surprised me with how their roles shift. And what is a gothic mystery without a little mystery? The Landimoor tragedy at first appears normal, but as the plot continues, more twists occur. Who stands to inherit? Why was Robert’s room in such disarray? And, with all good gothics, why is a phantom figure appearing at certain times?
The writing is well done with descriptions that place the reader in the setting, especially Blackthorn Manor. The prose flows naturally, revealing details subtly that later have great importance. The House of Dust and Shadows is a delightful reading experience.
This novel is primary a thriller with a haunted house, but not a haunted house story per se. Once readers understand the book for what it is, they will be treated to a cracker of a family drama. The story’s beating heart is in the character interactions and secrets.
A gripping thriller of a debut, The House of Dust and Shadows deserves a place on the bookshelf for fans of this genre. With all the gothic you could ask for, the novel ensures a mesmerizing read from start to finish.