Starling House: A Reese's Book Club Pick

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

“This book has everything you could possibly want this fall...a cursed town, a haunted house, a vivid & eerie setting—plus, characters willing to risk everything.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club October ’23 Pick)

Starling House
is a gorgeous, modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen….


Opal is a lot of things—orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier—but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.

All she left behind were dark rumors—and her home. Everyone agrees that it’s best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.

I should be scared, but in the dream I don’t hesitate.

Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House—and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund—she can't resist.

But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.

In my dream, I’m home.

And now she’ll have to fight.

Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.


A Book of the Month Club Pick
An October 2023 Indie Next Pick
A LibraryReads October 2023 Hall of Fame Pick
Apple, Best Books of October
EW.com, Fall Book Must Reads 2023
Washington Post, Noteworthy Books for October
Paste Magazine, The Must-Read Fantasy Books of Fall 2023
PopSugar Best New Fantasy Books of 2023
BookPage, Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2023
Observer, Must-Read Books of Fall 2023
Polygon, 12 Best New SFF for the Fall
LitHub, October’s Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
Bookish, October’s Most-Anticipated Books
Gizmodo, October's Huge List of New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books

BUY THE BOOK

Published Oct 3, 2023

312 pages

Average rating: 7.04

634 RATINGS

|

These clubs recently read this book...

Phoenix, AZ Bookclub

A Phoenix local bookclub with a goal to read diversely and discuss respectfully. We love connecting with local/indie authors in to have author meet an

Babes in Bookland

We’re a fun and relaxed book club for literary-loving ladies in Connecticut, meeting monthly to explore a range of books!

The Novel Exchange

A monthly book club at Cool Girl Collective with Dream In Gold Jewelry and rotating genres

Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Starling House* is a beautifully dark, gothic tale with rich, memorable characters like Elizabeth Baine and a haunting, magical atmospher...

LVoskan
Jan 13, 2025
5/10 stars
I chose this book because it was "available now" as an audiobook on Libby. Gothic fantasy - Opal, Jasper, Arthur Starling, Kentucky, house, family history. Definitely not my kind of book.
Kristin Rose
Nov 01, 2024
8/10 stars
This took me forever to read. The story was honestly beautiful but for some reason It just couldn’t fully capture me. I forced myself to finish it and I’m glad I did, but it was lacking something.
KaraBrown
Oct 15, 2024
10/10 stars
I think this might be the best book I've read all year... and I've read a lot of books lol.
This story is hauntingly sad and savagely beautiful. The writing is vivid, soulful, and stunning.
Emotion and conflict are clear on the pages and the conclusion and resolution are done wonderfully.
I won't spoil anything - please go read this if you haven't already.
I truly loved it and would definitely re-read it (which is saying a lot because I never want to re-read books).
P.S. there were images and illustrations scattered throughout the book which just adds to the storybook-like quality this book encapsulates.
Bosky
Dec 30, 2025
6/10 stars
This is not my genre- the macabre, haunted house, magical, fantastical. There was a disconnect between the "oldness" feeling of the book and the "new-age-ness" of the main character, Opal. This was a little jarring. In addition, there were too many retellings of the truth behind the Starling House. Yet, the characters were rich and relatable and had unique voices. Especially like Elizabeth Baine. How great was she? LOL.
Kellyo
Nov 17, 2025
7/10 stars
Good story but not a huge fan of the ending.

See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.