The Curse of Hester Gardens - by Tamika Thompson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

We Need to Talk about Kevin as if written by Jason Reynolds and Tananarive Due meets Model Home by Rivers Solomon in an innovative twist on the haunted house novel: about a mother desperate to protect her sons from the twin specters of gun violence and otherworldly menace in their public housing project.

Nona McKinley raised three boys in the Hester Gardens section of Medford, Michigan, an impoverished community divided by those who follow their faith in God and those who turn to crime to survive. With her drug dealer husband behind bars and her eldest son shot to death at eighteen, Nona has devoted herself to ensuring her other children escape their brother's fate.

Her second son Marcus is on the right path. He's a valedictorian heading to an Ivy League school. He can get out.

But then, strange things start happening to Nona and other residents: mysterious footsteps are heard when she's alone, people have phantom encounters in the streets, unattended appliances go off at all hours. Even more concerning is the state of Nona's living sons. Her youngest, Lance, is hanging around with a bad crowd, and Marcus becomes moody and secretive. Sometimes he even seems to act like a different person entirely.

Nona has her secrets too. Her affair with the married church pastor has been weighing on her conscience, but that's not the only guilt haunting her. She fears that someone--or something-- is seeking revenge for an act she made in a moment of weakness to protect her family. And now everyone in Hester Gardens must pay the price . . .

Review Quotes

Praise for The Curse of Hester Gardens

"Ringing with lyricism and suspense, The Curse of Hester Gardens is a compelling vision of the horror of trying to raise sons in public housing haunted by violence. Despite ghosts and the uncanny, the true terror is the trap of poverty, which tests a mother's love to its limits. Tamika Thompson's sharp characterization and insightful storytelling make this a must-read." --Tananarive Due, Los Angeles Book Prize and Bram Stoker Award winner, The Reformatory

"Thompson's first horror novel is a masterful mix of the supernatural unfolding in a contemporary neighborhood, populated by the living who feed the curse with their greed, secrets and need for revenge. The chilling journey of loss and madness is magnificently told through characters who became so real I was emotionally vested in their fight to protect their loved ones in the end. This is a perfect and deeply fulfilling book for a break from the stress of real-life." --Linda D. Addison, award-winning author, HWA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and SFPA Grand Master.

"The Curse of Hester Gardens is a chilling and vital debut that uses an underseen setting and distinct characters to give the genre a jolt." --Johnny Compton, author of Devils Kill Devils

"Thompson has excelled in truly gifting the experience of living with a persistent haunting. The storytelling, character development and masterful weaving of both dread and regret comes together for what I can only say is the pinnacle of modern-day gothic." --Vincent Tirado, Bram Stoker Award (R) -nominated author of We Came to Welcome You

"A powerful debut that explores love, grief, and violence with aching emotion. This unique take on the Gothic and what it means to be haunted, both internally and by an external force, boldy shows just how complex human beings can be. Hester Gardens may harbor darkness and tragedy, but Thompson's engaging prose and commitment to truth shine through with so much unwavering strength." --Sara Tantlinger, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Devil's Dreamland

"Tamika Thompson makes you fall in love with characters drawn with care and depth before taking them through the ringer. Horror at its best, rooted in the real-life terrors of gun violence and generational poverty, The Curse of Hester Gardens was an emotional rollercoaster that I'll remember for a long time." --Justin C. Key, author of The Hospital at the End of the World

"Tamika Thompson's The Curse of Hester Gardens is a bold and astonishing debut: expertly wrought, expansive and complex, tragic and redemptive. A heartbreaking story of a mother, a family, and an entire community struggling with supernatural dangers as well as the all-too-real threats of gun violence and systemic oppression. Poignant, chilling and immersive." --Christi Nogle, author of the Bram Stoker Award(R) winning first novel Beulah

"Tamika Thompson slays all expectations with her much-anticipated debut, The Curse of Hester Gardens, a dark gothic saga set in urban Michigan, where poverty and despair aren't the only spectres haunting the projects. Thompson doesn't pull any punches, crushing the reader with achingly brutal prose that lands every time, startling us with tragedy and truth, with the unrelenting, inexorable toll of grief and trauma. Yet despite the squalor, there is beauty here, Thompson leading us through the violence to the light. The Curse of Hester Gardens is a modern classic from one of horror's best new voices." --Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Award(R)-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories

"A sobering exploration of the tragedy of gun violence, the systemic oppression that breeds it, and the human lives infected and destroyed by its wake. The narrative douses the reader in dread anxiety: just when you feel like you can't survive another heartbreak, Thompson pulls back the curtain and once again shows you the horror of living with the worst of fears and near-overwhelming despair. What choices would you make to keep your family safe? Compelling and eye- opening, The Curse of Hester Gardens is essential reading." --Geneve Flynn, two-time Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award(R) winner

"Tamika Thompson's voice is exquisite, and the story is carefully paced. Part history lesson, part hideous reflection, the souls of the dead wail as a haunting weaves throughout this emotional tome. The Curse of Hester Gardens is a testimony to art imitating life. Poignant and deeply unsettling." --L. Marie Wood, Bram Stoker Award(R)-nominated author of Unworthy

"A powerful, haunting, and necessary tale in our current times, written with heart and soul and stunning attention to detail. Put this one at the top of your TBR list. I can't wait to see what the talented Tamika Thompson gives us next." --Brandon Massey, author of Nana and The Landlord

"Tamika Thompson's debut novel adds a supernatural twist to a parent's worst fears, from structural racism to gun violence, ultimately asking the question: What if your children had to pay for the worst mistake you ever made? As exhilarating as it is devastating, The Curse of Hester Gardens had my heart racing until the very last sentence." --Lindsay King-Miller, author of This is My Body

"A wrenching and compelling supernatural tale. Thompson deftly handles the balance between real-world horrors (crime, gun violence, systemic racism, poverty), and a terrifying otherworldly menace. There's an almost Shakespearean tilt to the tragedy that plays out here, in a place where secrets, lies, and ghosts tug and tear at people's lives." --Maria Haskins, author of Wolves & Girls and Six Dreams About the Train

"Everyone needs to read The Curse of Hester Gardens. This gripping novel fearlessly explores natural and supernatural horrors in a Michigan housing project and introduces a cast of incredibly vivid, complex characters. A great and nuanced story that also changed my perspective--I'll never be the same after reading it." --Ivy Grimes, author of Glass Stories

"Relentlessly real despite its supernatural premise, Tamika Thompson's The Curse of Hester Gardens portrays a community in the titular housing complex at once resilient and broken, simultaneously close-knit and fractured. With Nona, we follow a protagonist whose many flaws only stoke our empathy as she and her sons struggle against perils paranormal and mundane: vengeful specters, gang violence, racism, precarity, and intergenerational trauma, and all converging at once. A harrowing debut from a promising emergent author." --Jonathan Louis Duckworth, author of Have You Seen the Moon Tonight? & Other Rumors

"Thompson's writing is raw and unflinching, emotional and spellbinding in equal measure. This is a book with lessons to teach, a story to tell, and that must absolutely not be missed." --Zachary Rosenberg, author of Hungers as Old as This Land

"Tamika Thompson has pulled together something that speaks of real horrors: systemic poverty, cyclical violence, and the impossible choices parents make trying to protect their children. One might call it supernatural horror with a conscience, and I highly recommend it as something that chills the soul as much as it challenges the heart." --Kenya Moss-Dyme, author of Seed

"Tamika Thompson writes a gripping, poignant novel that is well-paced and features strong, compelling characters effortlessly. Thompson puts the reader through a whirlwind of emotions and fear that will stay with them for a long time. Any fan of Thompson's will find a new favorite with Hester Gardens and any newcomer to her work will find a new top author." --Zaq Cass, anthologist of Error Code

"If you're looking for your new favorite author Tamika Thompson is where to start. Brilliant, crafted writing that's bleeds with terror and humanity. She is the future of horror." --Horror editor Josh Darling

About the Author

Tamika Thompson is author of The Curse of Hester Gardens. A former journalist and producer, she is also author of Unshod, Cackling, and Naked, which is the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner for Horror, as well as author of Salamander Justice. Her work has appeared in several speculative fiction anthologies as well as in Interzone, Prairie Schooner, The New York Times, and Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she hosts her own blog and newsletter, Tamika Talks Terror. Visit her online at tamikathompson.com or on social media @tamikadthompson.