"From the Bram Stoker-nominated author of The Luminous Dead comes a gothic fantasy horror--The Death of Jane Lawrence. "Intense and amazing! It's like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell meets Mexican Gothic meets Crimson Peak." -BookRiot Practical. Unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man-one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him. By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to. Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Caitlin Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon.This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished. "Don't read this one alone at night; Caitlin Starling has done it again. Unsettling, atmospheric, and downright brutal at times, The Death of Jane Lawrence will continue to haunt you long after you leave Lindridge Hall...if the house lets you leave, that is." -Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch'sHeart"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

Embarking on a marriage of convenience with bold, courageous surgeon Augustine Lawrence in post-war England, practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield instead finds a terrified, paranoid man who cannot tell reality from a nightmare and realizes something is deeply wrong with this man she is bound to. 60,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

***AN INSTANT BESTSELLER!***
Best Books of 2021 · NPR
ALA/The Reading List Best Horror 2021 Pick
Longlisted for the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement in a Novel, 2021

From the Bram Stoker-nominated author of The Luminous Dead comes a gothic fantasy horror—The Death of Jane Lawrence.

"A jewel box of a Gothic novel." —New York Times Book Review

“Delicious.... By the time the book reached that point of no return, I was so invested that I would have followed Jane into the very depths of hell.” —NPR.org

“Intense and amazing! It’s like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell meets Mexican Gothic meets Crimson Peak.” —BookRiot

Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town.

Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him. By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to.

Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Caitlin Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished.

Caitlin Starling writes horror-tinged speculative fiction of all flavors. Her first novel, The Luminous Dead, won the LOHF Best Debut Award and was nominated for both the Bram Stoker and Locus Awards. She is also the author of the gothic horror tales Yellow Jessamine and The Death of Jane Lawrence, as well as a novella in the Vampire: The Masquerade audio collection, Walk Among Us. Her nonfiction has appeared in Nightmare and Uncanny. Starling also works in narrative design, and has been paid to invent body parts. She’s always on the lookout for new ways to inflict insomnia. - (McMillan Palgrave)

Booklist Reviews

Opening with a very creepy Rebecca vibe and set in a fictional world reminiscent of post-WWII Europe, Starling's latest introduces the very practical Jane as she proposes a business arrangement: marriage to the local doctor, Augustine Lawrence, a brilliant and kind outsider who keeps to himself. Dr. Lawrence's only rule for their marriage is that Jane sleeps at home in town, while he must return to the crumbling family manor home each evening. After a storm forces Jane to break this agreement on the very first night, what began as an uneasy story steadily builds with unrelenting tension, further enhanced by the intensity of Starling's narration. Readers are compelled to follow Jane as she discovers the truth at the manor home, unravels her husband's lies, and battles real or imagined horrors; but they will also thoroughly enjoy falling into this immersive and unsettling journey. A perfect choice for those who enjoy writers who play with the well-trod gothic trope to create something wholly new, utterly terrifying, and supremely satisfying, such as Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2020), and Now You Are One of Us, by Asa Nonami (2007). Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

All Jane Shoringfield wants is a marriage of convenience that will allow her to live as independently as possible, and she believes she's found the perfect husband in handsome if decidedly solitary doctor Augustine Lawrence. His only condition is that she never visit him at Lindridge Hall, his tumbledown family manor in the sticks. But circumstances land her at his door in a thunderous downpour on a dark, dark night, and what she discovers there should be worthy of a Bram Stoker and Locus Award nominated author. With a 60,000-copy first printing.