Midnight Rooms

A Novel

By: Donyae Coles

Narrated by: Georgina Campbell

“An immersive horror fairy tale marrying Crimson Peak to Pan’s Labyrinth upon strange foundations. You’re never really safe here, with Midnight Rooms wondrously defying expectation and refusing obedience. Donyae Coles leads us into a house of sinister magic, full of corners for peeking around, but careful—these walls have claws. A feverish, labyrinthine debut.”—Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth

Set in a foreboding Gothic mansion and infused with the heightened paranoia and creeping horror of novels like Catherine House and Crimson Peak, a spine-chilling debut historical thriller from a fresh voice in the genre that will leave you questioning who, or what, you can trust . . . including your own sanity.

England, 1840. Orabella Mumthrope spies an unexpected visitor in her uncle’s parlor. Scruffy in appearance yet claiming to be the scion of a fabulously wealthy family, Elias Blakersby declares a deep desire to make Orabella his wife. The orphaned daughter of a white man and a Black woman—an outsider with no fortune or connections—Orabella never expected to marry. But her uncle has many debts, and Orabella, curious about the seeming devotion Elias bestows upon her, agrees.

The new bride is quickly whisked away to Korringhill Manor, the Blakersby family estate, and far from everything she knows. Expecting splendor, Orabella is shocked to find decay, skittish servants, and curt elders. But her kind new husband’s loving touch, promises of a happy life together, and his assurances she’ll never want for anything soothe her concerns.

Yet there is a darkness deep within this house. Rooms are locked or hidden away, and the walls seem to thrum with secrets. Orabella can never venture outside unattended; she spends her days having tea with a catatonic sister-in-law and evenings at Elias’s side, dutifully hosting lavish dinners. The darkness soon begins to engulf her, too. Becoming dizzy and drowsy after dinner, she falls into a fitful sleep filled with macabre dreams, and is awakened by blood-curdling screams in the night. In the morning she rises from her bed covered in mysterious bruises. Confused and terrified, she begins to question where her dreams end and reality begins. The longer Orabella stays in this place, the more she loses parts of herself . . . how long until she no longer exists?

Midnight Rooms is a sweeping saga with supernatural undertones set in Victorian England. Vibrating with tension, richly atmospheric—haunted by ghosts, guilt, and familial bonds—it is an electrifying story that will linger in your dreams.

©2024 Donyae Coles (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

It was so vague and repetitive

I actually got through the whole book. It was hard to continue, so repetitive, I guess to lean in hard on mysterious. Would not read/listen again.

Brilliant!

I was hooked! The story kept me hanging on and wondering what was going on and what would happen next. I truly felt for the main character and shared her confusion. I can't wait for more books from this author! The narrator did an excellent job at bringing the story to life.

Wow, creepy, unsettling, addictive

Best book I have read in awhile. It used the tropes of gothic horror to heighten the experience rather than just repeating the tropes for the sake of it. You knew as soon as she said yes that this wasn’t going to be a good situation but you wanted her to say yes so you could see what would happen. Made good use of sensory detail to put you deep into Orabellas perspective and to make the horror all the more horrible. Truly twisted and scary.

Towards the end I did feel like it was getting repetitive and I did want Orabella to take a bit more agency in trying to get out of her situation…and at the end I was still a bit confused as to the full extent of what was happening. But all in all first book this length I read in less than two days because I just could not put it down and I’m grateful for that reading experience after finding a lot of new releases to be duds. Look forward to more from the author.

I thought the narrator la voice could have reflected a bit more emotion of what all was happening.

Just so you know, there’s smut in this!

None of the reviews I saw mentioned the “spicy” scenes and there’s 3 of them. The first one goes on for a bit. So if you don’t like spice at all, maybe pick another book.

This house will absolutely haunt me

So atmospheric and creepy but so visceral too. I was there. I could see and smell, even taste everything in that house in delicious detail. There's all this quiet dread, tension. Any fan of Gothic horror is going to love but it's also really special for Black girls like me who grew up without seeing ourselves in the genre. I can't wait to get my print copy in the mail. This is one for the shelf! Lol. The narrator was perfect too.

Shadows and ashes

Not what I expected at all. Dark. Devoured. Disillusionment. Hang on until the end if you dare.