Midnight rooms : a novel / Donyae Coles.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Set in a foreboding Gothic mansion and infused with the heightened paranoia and creeping horror of novels like Catherine House and Crimson Peak, a spine-chilling debut historical thriller from a fresh voice in the genre that will leave you questioning who, or what, you can trust . . . including your own sanity.

England, 1840. Orabella Mumthrope spies an unexpected visitor in her uncle's parlor. Scruffy in appearance yet claiming to be the scion of a fabulously wealthy family, Elias Blakersby declares a deep desire to make Orabella his wife. The orphaned daughter of a white man and a Black woman--an outsider with no fortune or connections--Orabella never expected to marry. But her uncle has many debts, and Orabella, curious about the seeming devotion Elias bestows upon her, agrees.

The new bride is quickly whisked away to Korringhill Manor, the Blakersby family estate, and far from everything she knows. Expecting splendor, Orabella is shocked to find decay, skittish servants, and curt elders. But her kind new husband's loving touch, promises of a happy life together, and his assurances she'll never want for anything soothe her concerns.

Yet there is a darkness deep within this house. Rooms are locked or hidden away, and the walls seem to thrum with secrets. Orabella can never venture outside unattended; she spends her days having tea with a catatonic sister-in-law and evenings at Elias's side, dutifully hosting lavish dinners. The darkness soon begins to engulf her, too. Becoming dizzy and drowsy after dinner, she falls into a fitful sleep filled with macabre dreams, and is awakened by blood-curdling screams in the night. In the morning she rises from her bed covered in mysterious bruises. Confused and terrified, she begins to question where her dreams end and reality begins. The longer Orabella stays in this place, the more she loses parts of herself . . . how long until she no longer exists

Midnight Rooms is a sweeping saga with supernatural undertones set in Victorian England. Vibrating with tension, richly atmospheric--haunted by ghosts, guilt, and familial bonds--it is an electrifying story that will linger in your dreams.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

DEBUT Orphaned Orabella, the child of a Black mother and a white father, lives under the care of her paternal uncle in 1840s England. She has been raised in the city as her cousin's companion, but now that her cousin has married, Orabella's uncle is eager to marry her off as well. When the handsome and rich Elias Blakersby, who is white, asks for her hand, Orabella, knowing her options are few, eagerly accepts. Whisked off to the family estate in the countryside, Orabella is separated from everyone and everything she knows. What follows is a classic gothic, told with a deep reverence for and knowledge of the genre. The writing style and common tropes that fans have come to expect are all here--the decaying house, ever-shifting hallways, odd family gatherings, and a deadly, inherited curse. But there is also a modern sensibility that will hook today's readers, with references to (literal) gaslightings and sensual and empowering sex scenes. VERDICT Coles's novel is another stellar example of how marginalized voices are taking a perennially popular genre, previously dominated by white characters and authors, and revitalizing it for 21st-century readers in a manner that honors its history but injects brand-new terrors, similar to Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas.

Publishers Weekly Review

Coles astounds in her atmospheric gothic debut set in Victorian England. Orabella has never been expected to amount to much due to her lower-class background and biracial (half-Black, half-white) identity. When her white uncle, who took her in after her parents' deaths, accrues a massive gambling debt, he barters Orabella as a wife to the mysterious Elias Blakersby to get out from under it. At 26, Orabella has never been with a man, making her nervous but determined to be a good wife. Fortunately, Elias is a kind man who spirits her away to his old but vast estate, Korringhill Manor, and dotes on her. Despite Elias's apparent dedication to her happiness, life at Korringhill Manor grows increasingly nightmarish. Orabella's creepy new servants refuse to leave her alone even for a moment, she has spells of dizziness and dissociation, and unexplained bruises show up on her thighs. As her perception of reality distorts, Orabella seeks to uncover the secrets of the Blakersby family before she is subsumed into the dreamlike manor. Coles's prose is evocative and strange and pairs brilliantly with the gothic tropes she expertly deploys. This is a fever dream of a novel that readers won't want to wake up from. Agent: Lane Heymont, Tobias Literary. (July)

Booklist Review

In 1840 in Bristol, England, 26-year-old biracial woman Orabella Mumthrope spends her days as the unwitting ward of her white aunt and uncle, with no prospects for her future--until a mysterious stranger comes calling with a proposal of marriage. Handsome and charming, Elias Blakersby promises Orabella a life of leisure at Korringhill Manor, his family's country estate, and the naive young woman accepts. Yet shortly after Orabella arrives at her new home, she's plunged into a world of moldering rooms, hidden passageways, hostile family members, and jumpy servants. And why does it seem as if Elias has ulterior motives for her presence there? As Orabella gets closer to the truth, she becomes plagued by visions and increasingly disconnected from reality. Unfolding in heady prose, Coles' atmospheric and evocative debut is a surreal fever dream of a novel that pays homage to classic Gothic tropes while offering a fresh take on the genre. Hand this to fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic (2020), Caitlin Starling's The Death of Jane Lawrence (2021), and Guillermo del Toro's 2016 film, Crimson Peak.