Monday Give Away: THE WITCH ELM
Full disclosure: there’s no witchcraft involved in Tana French’s new stand alone, The Witch Elm, but there is the usual magic of her writing: beautifully drawn characters, a setting so vivid you’re sure you’re there, and a wonderfully twisty plot.
Here’s the official description:
From the writer who “inspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker) and has been called “incandescent” by Stephen King, “absolutely mesmerizing” by Gillian Flynn, and “unputdownable” (People), comes a gripping new novel that turns a crime story inside out.
Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who’s dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life – he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family’s ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden – and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.
A spellbinding standalone from one of the best suspense writers working today, The Witch Elm asks what we become, and what we’re capable of, when we no longer know who we are.
The house, as in all good gothics, is pretty much a character in the book. So, for a chance to win my ARC of The Witch Elm, here’s your question:
— What’s your favorite fictional house?
(I have so many I can’t choose: Chateau de Valmy in Nine Coaches Waiting, Thornyhold, Misselthwaite Manor in The Secret Garden…. The list goes on and on.)
The winner will be announced on Wednesday.
Oooohhh, how thrilling! My favorite fictional house is either Thornfield Hall from Jane Eyre, Manderley from Rebecca, or Villa Villekulla from Pippi Longstocking 🙂
The Burrow, in the Harry Potter books 🙂
So many wonderful fictional houses but the one that is my favorite has to be Green Gables!
After a weekend binge of Deborah Harkness books, Sept- Tours is my current fave.
Ugh… that question is WAY too hard… The Burrow in Harry Potter?
It’s so hard to choose one, so here are two: Manderley from Daphne Du Maurier’s “Rebecca” and more of a plantation, Tara from “Gone With The Wind” by Margaret Mitchell.
Darcy’s Pemberley 🙂
Skye O’Malley’s house in All the Sweet Tomorrows by Bertrice Small. It was a manor house built with rose-colored brick and vines growing up the sides and front.
My favorite fictional house is a tie between Pemberley and Howards End!
Pemberley! Especially if it comes with that iconic lake from the miniseries.
Ashley Court in Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart…the first book of hers I ever read, borrowed from my mom…definitely my ‘gateway drug’ into romantic fiction!
The historic townhouse in Barbara Michael’s Georgetown trilogy. Ammie come Home, Shattered Silk and Stitiches In Time.
My favorite has always been Thornfield Hall from Jane Eyre
The Burrow from Harry Potter.
I definitely have to go with Pemberley from Pride and Prejudice. It’s always been so vivid in my mind.
My favorite house in a book is Thurston House in Danielle Steel’s Thurston House.
Ma dearly from Rebecca.
Tara, a true Southern house
Manderly from Rebecca!
The Beast’s castle from beauty and the beast because of that massive library!!
Definitely Green Gables! I got to visit the “real” one last year! Anne Heaven!
This ages me but Hogwarts. I love that there are hidden rooms, magical paintings and staircases, and ghosts.
Pooh’s home inthe tree
Tara, hands down.
Tara from Gone With the Wind
So hard to choose. Maybe Manderley from Rebecca, Villa Villekulla in Pippi Longstocking or Gull Cottage in the Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Fun fact … did you know that the book that the Ghost was based on was recently re-released thru Vintage Movie Classics with a new forward by Andriana Trigiani.
The house from the book The House On Haunted Hill.
Green Gables
O my! This is a tough question! Ma & Pa Ingalls’ Little House on the Prairie!! lol And of course, Bilbo Baggins lovely “hole in the ground.” And I’m glad you mentioned Chateau de Valmy and Manderley! Drogheda from The Thorn Birds. Ok…now I have to get back to work!
The Burrow in Harry Potter
Either Jane’s Lantern Hill in LM Montgomery’s Jane of Lantern Hill or Valency’s Blue Castle.
The House on Tradd Street!!! This book is the first in the Tradd Street series written by Karen White. The novels feature many ghostly encounters in Charleston, SC. Great series and I highly recommend anything Karen White writes!!!
The Parsonage at Woodston, especially if it comes with Henry Tilney!
I’m going with Barron’s Bookstore from the Fever series. He lived there so I’m counting it as a house. 😉
My favorite is the house that Noah built for Allie In The Notebook!!!
Recently, Val Hall in the Immortals After Dark series!
The big house on Frazier’s Ridge
Thornyhold, by Mary Stewart. I would have chosen Manderley, Thornfield Hall, or Tara, but they burned down! 😉
I have so many but must admit when I’m having a rough time and need to escape the real world for a bit I always go to Pemberly.
Since you just said fictional, I’m going with the house in the movie version of Practical Magic. That stillroom!!
The March family home from Little Women. It was the first house that came to mind. It was not grand, but it was always full of love. They had such a strong family bond, even through all of their struggles. When I think of my favorite house, that’s where I want to be.
I love the way Lisa Jewell describes the homes in Girls in the Garden. Such detail about each family’s home and how the common areas connected them all.
My favorite house from a novel is the Bishop house from A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness but my favorite house from TV is the Halliwell Manor on Charmed.
Valancy and Barney’s Blue Castle in L.M.Montgomery’s The Blue Castle – who doesn’t want a cottage on a wooded island?
Tara from Gone With the Wind. Love the Antebellum South.
Definitely Tara. But I could also live in the Biltmore, but not sure that was ever in a book.
I love Rebecca so I’ll say Manderly.
When I was a child I always wished the professor’s country house in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was real so I could find the spare room and visit Narnia.
OH MY GOD GIMME, I’m so excited that all I can do is grasp at 1) Manderley, 2) Thornfield (without the mad wife in the attic pls), 3) Pemberley, and 4) Whitethorn House in Thr Likeness. I’m sure there are others but I’m just way too excited about new Tana French to gather myself.
The Baxter Family home in the Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury. Thanks for this chance!
I’d pick Jay Gatsby’s house!