Gothictown

By Emily Carpenter

Book Overview

In an immersive Southern Gothic with echoes of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, a restauranteur lured by pandemic-era incentives moves her family to a seemingly idyllic small town in Georgia, only to discover a darkness lurking beneath the Southern hospitality and sun-dappled streets...

Welcome to gentle Juliana, where you can have it all...if you pay the price.

The email that lands in Billie Hope's inbox seems like a gift from the universe. For $100, she can purchase a spacious Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia, a small town eager to boost its economy in the wake of the pandemic. She can leave behind her cramped New York City rental and the painful memories of shuttering her once thriving restaurant and start over with her husband and her daughter. Plus, she'll get a business grant to open a new restaurant in a charming riverside community laden with opportunity. It seems like a dream come true...or a devil's bargain.

*A Publishers Marketplace BUZZ BOOKS Selection*

A few phone calls and one hurried visit later, and Billie, Peter, and six-year-old Meredith are officially part of the Juliana Initiative. The town is everything promised--two hours northwest of Atlanta but a world away from city living, a "gentle jewel" with weather as warm as its people. Between settling into their lavish home and starting her new restaurant, Billie is busy enough to dismiss any troubling signs...

But Billie's sleep is marred by haunting dreams, and her marriage with Peter is growing increasingly strained. Meanwhile the town elders, all descended from Juliana's founding families, exert a level of influence that feels less benevolent and more stifling day by day.

There's something about "Gentle Juliana"--something off-kilter and menacing beneath that famous Southern hospitality. And no matter how much Billie longed for her family to come here, she's starting to wonder how, and if, they'll ever leave.

For readers of Stacy Willingham, Sarah Langan, Ashley Winstead, and Jess Lourey, a bewitchingly foreboding story about sacrifice, privilege, family, guilt, and the vengeful ghosts of a haunted past - from the bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1496750543
• ISBN13: 9781496750549
• Release Date: March 2025
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.8" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Juliana is a dream place to live...Not!

I am super glad I had the time to listen to this story all in one sitting (a long drive)! This book hooked me right from the email that Billie gets out of the blue that seems to check off all the marks for the perfect life. A beautiful house with tons of land for only $100? And a chance to reopen her restaurant after Covid killed the first one? I mean, personally I would be backing away slowly from this definitely sounds too good to be true, but it makes for a thrilling book! And I mean, she and her family do get all those things...plus nightmares, secrets, overly friendly residents of the strangely named town of Juliana, hidden treasures, and sadly also murder. I did enjoy the slow twisting of reality and the reasons for what was happening in the town were delightfully creepy horror (the past bits really heightened the tension!)and kept me listening closely to see if Billie and her family could make it out alive, or if they too would become victims of Juliana for the greater good of course. This was a fun horror book to listen to and the narrator did a wonderful job in bring the scenery and characters to life in the quaint town of Juliana!