The Birthing House - by Christopher Ransom (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A chilling ghost story that is also a tale of exquisite psychological suspense, The Birthing House marks the debut of a writer whose first novel is a terrifying tour de force.

Conrad and Joanna Harrison, a young couple from Los Angeles, attempt to save their marriage by leaving the pressures of the city to start anew in a quiet, rural setting. They buy a Victorian mansion that once served as a haven for unwed mothers, called a birthing house. One day when Joanna is away, the previous owner visits Conrad to bequeath a vital piece of the house's historic heritage, a photo album that he claims "belongs to the house." Thumbing through the old, sepia-colored photographs of midwives and fearful, unhappily pregnant girls in their starched, nineteenth-century dresses, Conrad is suddenly chilled to the bone: staring back at him with a countenance of hatred and rage is the image of his own wife....

Thus begins a story of possession, sexual obsession, and, ultimately, murder, as a centuries-old crime is reenacted in the present, turning Conrad and Joanna's American dream into a relentless nightmare.

Review Quotes

"A blend of supernatural horror and psychological thriller, Ransom's impressive debut chronicles a couple's descent into madness after they purchase a 140-year-old Victorian house in rural Wisconsin . . . this addictively readable ghost story will keep readers up all night, with the lights on, of course." --Publishers Weekly

"A biting and well-written novel... The kind of genuinely scary story that makes little hairs stand up on the back of your neck... This is a rare thing: a ghost story with class. Read it." --Peter Blauner, author of the New York Times bestseller Slipping Into Darkness

"The birth of an exciting new voice in dark fiction... The Birthing House is a book that will leave you holding your breath." --Scott Nicholson, Bram Stoker Award finalist, author of They Hunger

"Either I don't know my horror stories (and I do know my horror stories) or Christopher Ransom's The Birthing House was so all-out scary that it kept me up until the wee hours in a way few novels have since Carrie went to the prom.... This book is killer." --Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean

"Terrifying and beautiful. I couldn't put The Birthing House down." --Sara Gran, author of Dope

"The Birthing House is as scary as they come.... It's quite simply a terrific novel." --Marcus Sakey, author of The Blade Itself

"An exceptional debut... Ransom's style mimics that of the early Stephen King and Dan Simmons's horror fiction (e.g., A Winter Haunting)." --Library Journal (starred review)

"A damn creepy, very original ghost story." --Jack Ketchum, Bram Stoker Award winner, author of The Lost

"Fans of Shirley Jackson and Clive Cussler can rejoice, for a new voice in wickedly scary fiction has arrived." --Indiebound

"A stunning debut--swaddling the reader in dread from the very first sentence, and spiraling into a heart-stopping climax." --Michael Marshall, author of The Straw Men

"Ransom has a distinctive narrative voice, and a Stephen King-like gift for the dreadful lurking behind the everyday. . . . The novel builds to a gripping climax that will make you think twice, maybe three times, about making an offer on that beautiful old fixer-upper." --SmartMoney magazine

"The Birthing House is the literary equivalent to Nirvana's semaphore effort In Utero . . . themed with birth, babies, and new beginnings . . . inviting the reader to share with [Ransom] an advent of existence that is steeped in blood and mystery. It's full of life, the prose like that of a professional, and certainly not a debut." --HorrorScope

About the Author

Christopher Ransom is a native of Boulder, Colorado, who has lived in New York and Los Angeles. He now resides with his wife and three rescued dogs in a 142-year-old former birthing house in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.