My Darling Dreadful Thing: A Novel

In a world where the dead can wake and walk among us, what is truly real?Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth—strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries—is the only good thing in Roos’ life, which is filled with sordid backroom séances organized by her mother. That is, until wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop attends one of these séances and asks Roos to come live with her at the crumbling estate she inherited upon the death of her husband. The manor is unsettling, but the attraction between Roos and Agnes is palpable. So how does someone end up dead?Roos is caught red-handed, but she claims a spirit is the culprit. Doctor Montague, a psychologist tasked with finding out whether Roos can be considered mentally fit to stand trial, suspects she’s created an elaborate fantasy to protect her from what really happened. But Roos knows spirits are real; she's loved one of them. She'll have to prove her innocence and her sanity, or lose everything.

If the dead can wake and walk among us, how can we know what is truly real?Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth?strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries?is the light of Roos\' life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos\' backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air at night, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.Then, someone is murdered.Poor, alone, and with a history of \'hysterics\', Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she\'ll have to prove who?or what?is at fault or lose everything she holds dear.