Japanese gothic / Kylie Lee Baker.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

USA TODAY Bestseller

New York Times Most Anticipated Book for 2026

USA TODAY Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Book Riot "Our Most Anticipated Books of 2026"



In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.



October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn't remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge--his father's new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn't always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.



October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father's face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.



One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.



Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.



For readers who love:

Grady Hendrix and Stephen King Japanese mythology Friendship and family themes Terrifying, gory stories Horror with heart A new take on the classic haunted house trope

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

At the center of Baker's second adult novel (after Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng) is the house of sword ferns, hidden off the main road in a small Japanese town, where Lee has fled after killing his NYU roommate in October of 2026. In October of 1877, Sen, the daughter of the last samurai, is also hiding (and training) as imperial guards seek to kill her family. When Lee discovers that he and Sen can cross into each other's worlds, they find that their connection across the centuries may be more than just chance. As Lee and Sen share their thoughts and feelings, they realize they are both missing key details about their lives, and if they work together, they might be able to find the peace they are each desperately seeking. A spectacular, thought-provoking, and chilling story about how the past ties itself to the present in ways humans cannot comprehend or explain. VERDICT Readers will savor every minute they spend at Baker's house of sword ferns. For fans of disorienting, heartbreakingly beautiful nightmares such as Cassandra Khaw's The Salt Grows Heavy, T. Kingfisher's The Hollow Places, and John Langan's exceptional The Fisherman.

Publishers Weekly Review

Baker (Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng) creates a breathless collision of timelines, cultures, and destinies in this impressive horror outing. In 2006, troubled New York City college student Lee Turner turns up at his father's doorstep in Japan on the run from a horrific crime that he doesn't totally remember and hoping to finally get some answers about his mother's disappearance when he was a child. His father's ancient house is crowded with ghosts, including that of Sen of Shimazu, the daughter of one of the last remaining samurai families in 1877, who is snared in a time loop, perpetually training for a battle she will inevitably lose. Sen and Lee develop an uneasy rapport that illuminates for both of them the darkest parts of themselves. As Sen careens toward her brutal fate, Lee learns that the truths that haunt him might be better off staying buried. In wrenching prose, Baker renders her characters both deeply flawed and profoundly human. The unsparing, poetic voice propels the story to its bitter end while evoking the nightmare of feeling like an outsider even among family. It's as gruesome as it is un-put-downable. (Apr.)

Booklist Review

In 2026, college student Lee Turner flees to his father's house in isolated Chiran, Japan, after killing his roommate. In 1877, Sen trains alongside her samurai father to fight the imperial army that threatens their way of life. When Lee and Sen discover a doorway that blurs the boundary between their worlds, they realize they are occupying the same house 150 years apart. Lee hopes their connection will help him communicate with the ghost of his mother, presumed dead after her mysterious disappearance in Cambodia, while Sen seeks answers about her family's uncertain future. But the closer this unlikely pair gets to revealing the truth, the more their secrets and their fates become intertwined. Atmospheric and disorienting, Baker's ambitious follow-up to Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng (2025) blends historical horror with Japanese folklore, incorporating elements from the legend of Urashima Tarō to deliver a violent and thought-provoking tale of grief, generational trauma, and colonialism. Fans of Alma Katsu's The Fervor (2022) will want to pick this up.