A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don’t simply move into a haunted house–they build one . . .In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate have abandoned the comforts of suburbia to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the … residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this beautiful property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. With her passion for artifacts, Helen finds special materials to incorporate into the house–a beam from an old schoolroom, bricks from a mill, a mantel from a farmhouse–objects that draw her deeper into the story of Hattie and her descendants, three generations of Breckenridge women, each of whom died suspiciously. As the building project progresses, the house will become a place of menace and unfinished business: a new home, now haunted, that beckons its owners and their neighbors toward unimaginable danger.
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Helen and Nate abandoned their city lives for rural Vermont, where they will build their dream home on their new property, amidst the woods and the nearby bog. Helen, formerly a history teacher, is intrigued when learns about Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there nearly a century ago. Hattie’s tragic story becomes merged with the house when Helen used materials related to Hattie (such as a wooden beam made from the oak tree where she was hanged) to decorate the interior of the house she’s building, unwittingly inviting Hattie in. Hattie wants something from Helen, and she can’t rest until she gets it.
The Invited draws you in right from the start, with a prologue from 1924, told in Hattie’s perspective, relating the events that lead up to her death. At the end of it, two mysteries remain—the location of the Breckenridge “treasure” (if it even exists) and what happened to Hattie’s daughter after her mother’s death.
Decades later, the subject of Hattie and her treasure has dominated the imagination and gossip of local residents. They say Hattie’s ghost roams the bog, luring unsuspecting victims into its depths, never to be seen again, and people are warned to stay away from the area when darkness nears.
Newcomers Helen and Nate are unaware of the legend when they move to the area, learning about it only after experiencing several unexplained events that leave them feeling uneasy. Meanwhile, their teenaged neighbor Olive relentlessly searches the bog for the elusive treasure, hoping that finding it will result in her missing mother returning home.
The story is told in the alternating perspectives of Helen and Olive. It was intriguing to follow Helen in her mission to discover everything there is to know about Hattie and her descendants, and interesting to see her relationship with Nate alter somewhat as they go through the stress of building their home. Olive’s treasure hunt, as well as her search for her mother, and her relationship with her father and aunt, were equally enjoyable to read about, and I felt a great deal of sympathy for her every time she faced obstacles in finding out what really happened the night her mother left. It was Hattie whom I was most interested in, however, because she was the most fascinating character of all.
Overall, this was a great read. Layers of mysteries, lots of unexpected twists, and a cast of characters that will long linger in my memory. If you enjoy reading books were dark histories of the past affect the lives of those in the present, then this is definitely a book for you.
This is the first novel of McMahon’s I’ve read, and I’m not sure how her work managed to escape my notice until now, but I’ll absolutely be reading more of her books in the future!
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Doubleday via Netgalley.