A good, old-fashioned ghost story which gets bloody as it progresses. A classic plot – couple move to haunted house – which is actually truly creepy and contains some unexpected turns. Not for the fainthearted, but very enjoyable.
When Conrad Harrison impulse-buys a big old house in Wisconsin, his wife Jo doesn’t share his enthusiasm, reluctant at the idea of leaving their LA life - so Conrad is left to set up their new home as she ties up loose ends at work. But Conrad’s new purchase is not all that it seems. Soon Conrad is hearing the ghostly wailing of a baby in the night, seeing blood on the floor and being haunted by a woman who looks exactly like Jo. With his wife away, Conrad becomes obsessed by the pregnant girl next door, Nadia, who claims to be a victim of the evil in the house. The crying leads him to a bricked-up body, and the mystery of the Birthing House unravels, pulling in Jo, Nadia and leading Conrad to a nightmarish conclusion…
'If The Birthing House had just been a biting and well-written novel about a contemporary marriage, that would have been enough to make it worth your time. If it had just been the kind of genuinely scary story that makes little hairs stand up on the back of your neck, that would have been sufficient as well. But what's remarkable is that it manages to have the best of both genres, without sacrificing thrills for insight. This is a rare thing: a ghost story with class. Read it.' Peter Blauner
Author
About Christopher Ransom
Christopher Ransom was born and went to university in Colorado, but moved to New York and then LA with his wife to pursue various careers such as selling ads for media magazines and screenwriting. They then bought a 140-year-old birthing house in Wisconsin, where he wrote this, his first novel.
