Gothictown

Summary

In this riveting, skillfully told, and irresistibly twisted Southern Gothic novel of psychological suspense, a woman who moves her family to an outwardly idyllic town finds that a darkness lurks beneath the friendly smiles and sun-dappled streets …

The email that lands in Billie Hope’s inbox seems like a gift from the universe. For $100, she can purchase a spacious Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia, a small town eager to boost its economy in the wake of the pandemic. She can leave behind her cramped New York City rental and the painful memories of shuttering her once thriving restaurant and start over with her husband and her daughter. Plus, she’ll get a business grant to open a new restaurant in a charming riverside community laden with opportunity.

A few phone calls and one hurried visit later, and Billie, Peter, and six-year-old Meredith are officially part of the Juliana Initiative. The town is everything
promised—two hours northwest of Atlanta but a world away from city living, a “gentle jewel” with weather as warm as its people. Between settling into their lavish home and starting her new restaurant, Billie is busy enough to dismiss niggling concerns.

Yet those misgivings grow. Billie’s sleep is marred by haunting dreams, and her marriage with Peter is growing increasingly strained. Meanwhile the town elders, all descended from Juliana’s founding families, exert a level of influence that feels less benevolent and more stifling day by day.
There’s something about Juliana—something off-kilter and menacing beneath that famous Southern hospitality. And no matter how much Billie longed for her family to come here, she’s starting to wonder how, and if, they’ll ever leave.

“Inviting and atmospheric, this engrossing tale of a charming town hiding a chilling past is southern gothic at its best. I was hooked from the very beginning!”—Katherine Wood, author of Ladykiller