The House Where Nothing Hurts
On sale
18th February 2027
Price: £18.99
‘Brilliant, visceral, and haunting . . . This is horror at its slyest and smartest . . . This book is a knockout‘ ASHLEY WINSTEAD, author of IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE
‘A twisty page-turner and a keen meditation on the intimacies and cruelties traded among teenage girls, The House Where Nothing Hurts had me reading late into the night‘ ALEXIS SCHAITKIN, author of SAINT X
As a senior in high school, Leah and her best friend Christian lead their volleyball team to victory after victory. But when Leah, Christian and their team break into their town’s haunted mansion to celebrate a win, everything changes. The girls discover that within the house’s walls, wounds magically heal, haircuts grow back, even death can be undone.
But as the girls’ visits to the house turn increasingly dangerous, Leah remains untouched by the house’s magic. Desperate to hide her differences, Leah begs her identical twin, Laura, to impersonate her for one night. But the house won’t be deceived . . .
Twenty years later, Leah has built a life elsewhere – pregnant, and convinced she’s carrying twins, despite scans only showing a single baby girl. When a call from the blue pulls Leah back to her hometown, the secrets left in the house are about to collide with the present.
‘Saturated both with unsettling dream-logic and sticky 2000s lipgloss, it kept hold of me right to the end’ AVERY CURRAN, author of SPOILED MILK
‘Seductive and unsettling, vicious and tender . . . a literary horror novel unlike any I’ve read . . . Ali Fountain is a brilliant, unforgettable voice in fiction‘ KATIE GUTIERREZ, author of MORE THAN YOU’LL EVER KNOW
‘A sharp-edged puzzle box of girlhood . . . I read the whole thing straight through, holding my breath‘ JULIA FINA, author of MADDALENA AND THE DARK
‘A twisty page-turner and a keen meditation on the intimacies and cruelties traded among teenage girls, The House Where Nothing Hurts had me reading late into the night‘ ALEXIS SCHAITKIN, author of SAINT X
As a senior in high school, Leah and her best friend Christian lead their volleyball team to victory after victory. But when Leah, Christian and their team break into their town’s haunted mansion to celebrate a win, everything changes. The girls discover that within the house’s walls, wounds magically heal, haircuts grow back, even death can be undone.
But as the girls’ visits to the house turn increasingly dangerous, Leah remains untouched by the house’s magic. Desperate to hide her differences, Leah begs her identical twin, Laura, to impersonate her for one night. But the house won’t be deceived . . .
Twenty years later, Leah has built a life elsewhere – pregnant, and convinced she’s carrying twins, despite scans only showing a single baby girl. When a call from the blue pulls Leah back to her hometown, the secrets left in the house are about to collide with the present.
‘Saturated both with unsettling dream-logic and sticky 2000s lipgloss, it kept hold of me right to the end’ AVERY CURRAN, author of SPOILED MILK
‘Seductive and unsettling, vicious and tender . . . a literary horror novel unlike any I’ve read . . . Ali Fountain is a brilliant, unforgettable voice in fiction‘ KATIE GUTIERREZ, author of MORE THAN YOU’LL EVER KNOW
‘A sharp-edged puzzle box of girlhood . . . I read the whole thing straight through, holding my breath‘ JULIA FINA, author of MADDALENA AND THE DARK
Reviews
Deftly written, propulsive, and above all expert when it comes to the thorny, cruel, loving dynamics of teenage girls. Saturated both with unsettling dream-logic and sticky 2000s lipgloss, it kept hold of me right to the end; I didn't want it to let go
The House Where Nothing Hurts is a sharp-edged puzzle box of girlhood, beautifully written, equal parts fierce and vulnerable. Each twist is earned and exhilarating - I read the whole thing straight through, holding my breath
Brilliant, visceral, and haunting, The House Where Nothing Hurts reads like the love child of Megan Abbott's Dare Me and Showtime's Yellowjackets. This is horror at its slyest and smartest, a haunted house story that takes the brutal and seductive politics of girlhood and magnifies them until teenage social hierarchy becomes literal life and death, slights are wielded like kitchen knives in manicured hands, and belonging means the difference between safety and predation. This book is a knockout and required reading for fans of horror starring complex women
In a delicious twist, the haunted house in Ali Fountain's seductive debut is a gleaming suburban McMansion. Does the house have evil intentions? Or does it simply draw out the darkness within the hearts of the girls drawn to it? At once a twisty page-turner and a keen meditation on the intimacies and cruelties traded among teenage girls, The House Where Nothing Hurts had me reading late into the night
The House Where Nothing Hurts is at once seductive and unsettling, vicious and tender - all the strange and fierce opposites of teen girlhood and motherhood unfurling in a literary horror novel unlike any I've read. A haunted house, but it's all the ways we hurt each other when we think it doesn't count. Ali Fountain is a brilliant, unforgettable voice in fiction