“Starling House,” by Alix E. Harrow. Tor Books, 2023. 320 pages. $28.99 (hardback).

Opal is a girl in a small town … one that seems to be cursed with bad luck, and with people who always look the other way. She’s tough, though, and has been making her own way since she was 15, when her mother died in a car crash. Stealing, lying, and cheating, Opal’s kept her little brother with her by any means necessary. Then one day a house seems to call to her, and the man inside offers a job too good to be true – a job with enough money to get her brother out of this wretched town.

Starling House has a sinister reputation, with so many stories about it that no one seems to know anything. Eden, Kentucky, is a dying town, full of bad luck, few jobs and a power plant. The town has a history that most ignore, pretending it doesn’t exist. As Opal begins to realize that perhaps Starling House is really her home, she also finds that if she wants it, she’ll have to fight for it.

Alix E. Harrow is from Kentucky and includes many things from our area in this novel. I’m from Edmonson County, KY. I live near and work in Bowling Green, KY. So first off, I have to say that there were so many things in this book I smiled at, just to hear it in such a wonderful, fantastical, gothic story. Cemetery Road, Greenwood Mall and more. These touches made the book all that much more real to me.

I am from a small Kentucky town and can appreciate Opal’s perspectives and the Eden that the author paints in the book. I know what it’s like to grow up poor, to be hungry, and to see that others have what you want and cannot afford. I understand the dark side of small southern towns that people shove under the rug. We glorify and sing the praises of our small communities in country songs, and ignore the fact that life in them isn’t always pretty.

In a small town, if you have money, land, and the right name, you get away with murder. But the book also showed the good side of small-town life and the people who live in them. Opal is graced with people who truly care about her – even when she can’t see it. The narrative is intricate and made of layers of stories as told orally and written down. The characters are complicated and fun, witty and brash.

Oddly enough, “Starling House” was perhaps my favorite character in the book. I don’t want to give too much away, but just know that the house itself is an integral part of the story. It has a personality, and the little bits and pieces we see of it really add to the world building overall. I often laughed out loud at some of the antics.

The plot of this novel revolves around the history of Starling House, the town and a past shrouded in mystery. Opal feels called to Starling House, wants to see inside, accidentally breaches the gate, and meets Arthur Starling, the house’s last heir. He makes her an offer that seems too good to be true – a job with good money. But soon, Arthur and Opal learn that they will have to figure out what is going on, and exactly how to stop it. Opal digs up some secrets that others dearly want to keep hidden.

As the mystery unfolds, the characters begin to connect the dots. Opal learns not only about Starling House, the town’s past, and the dark secrets, but also about herself and the other people around her. She learns more about her own history in the town. “Starling House” is also a story about the love between two people, between a house and its owners, between the town and its community. I highly suggest picking it up as soon as possible, and devouring it in no time at all, as I did. It is a wonderful story, fantastical and all too realistic.

Alix E. Harrow is the New York Times-bestselling author of “The Ten Thousand Doors of January,” “The Once and Future Witches,” various short stories, and a duology of retold fairy tales, “A Spindle Splintered” and “A Mirror Mended.” Her work has won a Hugo and a British Fantasy Award, and has been shortlisted for the Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, Southern Book Prize, and Goodreads Choice awards. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband and their two kids.

– Reviewed by Fallon Willoughby, Assistant Professor, First Year Experience, Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College.