We Live Here Now
Limited edition printing with stenciled edges
USA TODAY BESTSELLER! "Atmospheric, immersive, surprising and as dark as wet tires." —New York Times Book Review
“Brilliant. . . The twist completely blew my mind. I adored every page.” —Lisa Jewell
Award-winning author of New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix show) Behind Her Eyes returns with a haunting Gothic novel about a house—and a marriage—gone terribly wrong.
After an accident that nearly kills her, Emily and her husband, Freddie, move from London to a beautiful Dartmoor country house called Larkin Lodge. The house is gorgeous, striking—and to Emily, something about it feels deeply wrong.
Old boards creak at night, fires go out, and books fall from the shelves, and all of it stems from the terrible presence she feels in the third-floor room. But these things happen only when Emily’s alone, so are they happening at all? She’s still medically fragile; her postsepsis condition can cause hallucinatory side effects, which means she can’t fully trust her own senses. Freddie doesn’t notice anything odd and is happy with their chance at a fresh start.
Emily, however, starts to believe that the house is being haunted by someone who was murdered in it, though she can find no evidence of a wrongful death. As bizarre events pile up and her marriage starts to crumble, Emily becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about Larkin Lodge.
But if the house has secrets, so do Emily and her husband.
And they live here now.
“All marriages have secrets. All houses have a past. But not like this one. This is Sarah Pinborough at her mind-bending best.”
—Ruth Ware, bestselling author of One Perfect Couple
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Community Reviews
Emily starts experiencing all kinds of spooky happenings—fireplaces that snuff out by themselves, phantom floor nails that keep popping up, and the kind of oppressive third-floor presence that screams “definitely haunted, please leave now.” Freddie, meanwhile, spends most of the novel going, “What third-floor presence?” like he’s never seen a horror movie before.
The atmosphere here is peak Gothic: misty moors, creepy house, secrets layered like a soggy trifle. The plot builds with a slow-burn intensity that made me want to yell “RUN” at Emily several times. The writing is moody, immersive, and tinged with that delicious flavor of dread that makes you question your own hallway noises at night.
Of course, there’s the issue of Emily maybe hallucinating due to lingering effects of sepsis, which makes for some delightful unreliability. Is she cracking under pressure or cracking open the secrets of a deeply cursed house?
The tension ratchets up with increasing weirdness, secrets are slowly revealed (some of them juicy, some of them suspiciously withheld for dramatic effect), and by the end you’ll be side-eyeing your own bookshelf just in case it decides to attack.
The beauty of this book lies in how deliciously unreliable everyone is. You’ll be side-eyeing every character, every creaky stair, and every misplaced memory until the final pages. Pinborough keeps you guessing: is it supernatural? Psychological? Marital breakdown with a side of murder mystery? (Spoiler: yes.)
Occasionally the plot meanders like a confused ghost wandering the halls, and I spent a good portion of the book wanting to shake both Emily and Freddie and shout, “Burn that house down and then get yourselves to therapy.”
Still, this was a gripping, twisty, paranoia-fueled tale of secrets, lies, and possibly sentient architecture. Would recommend—just maybe don’t read it alone. In a creaky house. On the third floor.
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