In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over. 

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.

In This Cursed House by Del Sandeen, the author has created a haunting Gothic tale that explores racism, colorism and how letting go of hate leads to acceptance. The author quickly leads you into the narrative as soon as you meet Jemma, with atmospheric writing and subtle hints of secrets as soon as Jemma enters New Orleans. 

As Jemma works for the Duchon family, it is the secrets, the strangeness of the family that kept me intrigued as Jemma attempts to solve their curse. The layers of racism, the complexity of how they treat Jemma in their colorism and toxicity are slowly unpeeled to reach right to the heart of the horrors that have been endured in their house. And as those secrets are revealed, Jemma must decide if it is worth saving the family from their curse. 

If you like novels that are exceptionally well written, haunting gothic tales, and novels that reveal the layers of racism and colorism that still exist in our world, then this is worth reading. The historical aspects make it compelling but the secrets of the family, the layers to the curse, will be what will haunt you as much as Jemma is haunted. It is a riveting story from beginning to end. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 graves