Hex House - by Amy Jane Stewart (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A feverishly told, dark and unsettling Scotland-set fairy-tale about a safe haven for women which transforms them into vessels of revenge, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, A. G Slatter and Julia Armfield

ELLY

Elly is running. Pregnant and still in her wedding dress, she flees the cottage that her new husband has rented for their wedding night. Because he's not what people think he is - and she knows that, one day, he'll hurt her in a way she can't fix. Freezing and lost in the dead of night, Elly begins to lose hope.

A woman in the woods alone is never the beginning of the story. It's usually the end.

So, when a beautiful house appears out of nowhere and a woman beckons her inside, it almost feels too good to be true.

Welcome to Hex House: a refuge, a home, a sanctuary. A place that can only be found by those who truly need it; a place that promises to teach Elly how to access a power more incredible - and more terrifying - than anything she could have imagined.

SIOBHAN

Four years after Siobhan meets Elly at Hex House, her life is in ruins. Once a promising filmmaker invited to the house to make a documentary with her brother, Theo, she's given up on her dream after witnessing unspeakable horrors there. Now, she spends her time drinking too much, toying with an older man in increasingly dangerous ways, and trying to get Theo to speak to her again. She ignores the scar on her stomach that never fully heals.

That is, until someone reaches out with news about Hex House that could change everything.

And Siobhan knows, deep down, that she was always destined to return.

Review Quotes

A dark, enchanted tale of feminine rage and feminine magic, and the secrets they hide in the woods and in their hearts... Hex House is a stunning debut from Amy Jane Stewart.--Christina Henry, author of Alice and The Place Where They Buried Your Heart

This is an accomplished tale of escape and return, secrets, lies and a house the reader won't forget in a hurry. A wonderfully dark, magical book.--Gemma Amor, author of Itch!

In Amy Jane Stewart's Hex House the line between saviour and sinner is horribly thin. A rich seam of rage sings through the bones of this novel. Hex House is a need answered. A home. A sanctuary. A horror. But also a kind of hope for the broken. Highly recommended.--A. G. Slatter, award-winning author of The Cold House

Hex House is a foundational text imbued with blood and absolute beauty. Amy Jane Stewart has flung the doors of the haunted house novel wide open and filled its rooms with fresh feminist folk horror, positively positioning herself as a cornerstone to the next generation of the genre. I want to live in her books.--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

A stellar debut... Horrifying and magical in equal measure, you will devour this novel, and it might just devour you back.--FanFiAddict

The prose is sharp. The structure is ambitious. The thematic reach is wide. [Amy Jane Stewart] is writing with the confidence of an author who knows exactly what she wants to say and has found the precise language to say it.--Ginger Nuts of Horror

Hard-hitting, with rich characterisation plus fantastical elements that will creep up on the reader then dig their claws in.--Bloody Flicks

Brutally realistic and all the more terrifying for it.--Exquisite Terror

Stewart's prose is fierce. Crafted in such a way, I lived with Elly and her struggles. Drank with Siobhan to numb the memories. Lived within the walls of Hex House. This paperback is alive. Alive with its magic and storytelling.--Horror Tree

A fierce debut.--Priya Sharma, World Fantasy Award winner for Pomegranates

Hex House is a tragic and enthralling story that thrusts you into an unexpected world from the very beginning. The haunting imagery makes this book a stand out.--V Castro, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Maria the Wanted

Filled with complex, intriguing characters, Hex House is a genuinely frightening novel which twists around you as you read to deny easy, empty redemption. I loved it.--Rym Kechacha, author of The Apple and the Pearl

Hex House is a dreamy modern-day fairy tale, suffused with magic, mystery, and a simmering darkness lurking just beneath the surface. As with all fairy tales, there is a lesson to be learned from its telling: a warning for all those who abuse power to harm the vulnerable. By turns joyful and horrifying, tender and savage, Hex House lets the monsters out to take their pound of flesh - catharsis has never tasted so sweet.--M. K. Hardy, author of The Needfire

A dark and beautifully written tale about power. Who has it? What would you be willing to do to get it? And once you have it, how might it corrupt you?--Rhiannon Grist, award-winning author of Home Sick

There's a house in the woods where the lost girls go, more Suspiria than cosy fairytale: Hex House is a gloriously violent, candid, propulsive take on female anger and revenge. I tore through it.--Ally Wilkes, Bram Stoker award-nominated author of All the White Spaces

A dread-filled fable of withered, broken spirits and of the rot, ruin that inevitably traps them. This haunting, deeply unsettling novel possesses all the eeriness and elegance of similar Gothic-tinged work (with some unpleasant ick factor) penned by Julia Armfield, Priya Sharma or T. Kingfisher. A stunning and remarkably compelling debut.--Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

Beautifully idiosyncratic in its obsessions and cleverly, inescapably structured, Hex House is a tale of broken bodies and fragmented identities, a poignant meditation on the cyclical nature of violence and on the ethical and political significance of bearing witness to someone else's struggle. Powerful and propulsive, it burns bright, searing itself into the reader's imagination.--Andrea Morstabilini

Powerful, moving and wonderfully feminist, Hex House had me gripped from the outset. The characters and setting are so vivid that I literally lived and breathed this world as I flew to a twisted place where dark secrets held me captive. The concept is so original and so well executed that this really was a vicarious reading experience from start to finish.--Heather Davey, author of The Ghosts of Merry Hall

Amy Jane Stewart's Hex House is a supernatural revenge saga with a very real spine. It leads you down a dark path, bristling with malice, festering secrets, and the feminine urge to burn it all down. I loved it.--Verity Holloway, author of The Others of Edenwell

About the Author

Amy Jane Stewart is a writer living in the Scottish Borders. She was the winner of the New Writing North & Word Factory Northern Apprentice Award in 2021 and the Mairtín Crawford Prize for Short Story in 2022. She has been Highly Commended in the 2019 Bridport Prize and shortlisted for the 2023 Bristol Short Story Prize. Her work can be found in New Writing Scotland, Visual Verse and Test Signal. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from York St John University and is studying for a Creative Writing PhD at the University of Sheffield.