Reliquary - by Hannah Whitten (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A young woman is lured to her late fiancé's remote island estate--only to uncover eerie family secrets, a haunting past, and a monstrous hunger stirring beneath the sea in this deliciously atmospheric horror debut from New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten.

When Claire's fiancé mysteriously dies of an unknown neurological illness, she's prepared to sink back into the lonely life she lived before. Orphaned by a freak boating accident in her childhood, she never expected to find connection like she did with Elias, anyway. Their relationship wasn't perfect--his coldness, his secrets, his strange aversion to the ocean--but what relationship is?

When Elias's family reaches out--his incredibly wealthy family, from whom he was estranged--and invites Claire to a three-day wake at Harrow Point, their family home on a private island, Claire is given the chance to find family again. To belong to something, just like she's always wanted. Just like Elias knew she was desperate to have.

Even if that family is a little strange. Even if their coastal home stirs up memories of the accident that killed her parents and sister. Even if Ash, Elias's older brother, seems insistent on Claire leaving as soon as possible.

As she dives deeper into the world of Harrow Point, she will uncover the nature of her own traumatic connection to the ocean. There is something swimming in the bowels of Harrow Point, and it is hungry...

Review Quotes

"Reliquary is a doomed meet-cute plucked from the weird, colossal darkness of the sea, at once amusing, bleak, and swimming in aquatic chills."--Fangoria

"A novel for not just fans of sea-soaked dark fantasy and horror but also for readers of gothics with immersive settings and intense dread, like Mexican Gothic (2020), by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and tales of the monsters behind the business success of the uber rich, like Fiend (2025), by Alma Katsu."--Booklist

"Cosmic and body horror combine with classic gothic atmosphere in a truly unsettling read that establishes Whitten as an author to watch in this genre--and ensures readers will never look at the ocean the same way again... Mixing themes of repulsive family legacies that maintain extreme wealth like those in Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic with the unspeakable, immense terrors of H.P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones, Reliquary is well suited for longtime fans of the genre and those visiting from the darkest side of fantasy."--Shelf Awareness

"Evocative, haunting, and deeply unsettling. Hannah's salt-soaked horror debut cements her as one of the most brilliant and incisive voices in speculative fiction."--Alexis Henderson, author of An Academy for Liars

"Whitten has assembled all the essentials for a gothic novel. There's an isolated and endangered heroine. There are family secrets that won't stay hidden. And the setting is the perfect blend of the sublime and the uncanny."--Kirkus

"Reliquary is a wild ride from start to finish. If you're a fan of the type of horror that is viscerally creepy but also makes you whisper "hell yeah" under your breath, look no further! I loved every salt-drenched second."--Tori Bovalino, author of My Throat an Open Grave

"Atmospheric and absolutely devastating, Hannah Whitten knocks it out of the park with this one! I couldn't put it down!"--Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author

"Brimming with terror that'll slither over your bones, Hannah Whitten's Reliquary is a wicked communion of opulence, twisted kinship, and briny dread. Reliquary marks Whitten's trailblazing entry into the horror scene--a haunting, unrepentant tale about grief, desire, and the sacrifices we'll make to slake the hunger consuming us all."--A. J. Vrana, author of The Hollow Gods

"Creepy, atmospheric, and perfectly weird-- it was a horrifying delight to submerge myself in the sea-drenched, eldritch world of Reliquary."
--Lyndall Clipstone, author of Tenderly, I am Devoured

"Fresh, original, and absurdly propulsive, Reliquary is a feat of taut plotting, eerie world-building, and incisive commentary on the dark underbelly of power and privilege. The spectral slice of flawed and complex romance had me gnawing at the bars of my enclosure. Whitten is surely one of the most exciting new voices in horror."--Laura "L.K." Steven, #1 NYT bestselling author of Our Infinite Fates and Silvercloak

"Hannah Whitten was born to write horror! Visceral and grotesque and utterly fascinating, Reliquary explores grief's haunting hollowness...and the horrifying things that try to fill it. Utterly brilliant."--Rachel Gillig, New York Times bestselling author of One Dark Window

"Propulsive and completely impossible to put down, Reliquary seized me with uneasy dread and will make me think twice before tiptoeing into any ocean. Hannah Whitten is my new favorite voice in horror."--Erin A. Craig, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Thirteenth Child

About the Author

Hannah Whitten has been writing to amuse herself since she could hold a pen, and sometime in high school, she figured out that what amused her might also amuse others. When she's not writing, she's reading, making music, or attempting to bake. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and children in a house ruled by a temperamental cat.