The Ash House by Angharad Walker, illustrations by Corey Brickely

Chicken House, 2021

ISBN:  978-1338636314

Available: Hardcover, audiobook, kindle

A chilling and impressive debut.

Angharad Walker’s debut novel The Ash House is a strong middle grade horror tale about a group of abandoned children. Stranded at an unusual orphanage, the residents seem to have internalized the strict moralistic ideology of their captors. With newly dubbed names like Freedom and Wisdom, each child acts within prescribed roles and duties to maintain upkeep of the property. They watch recordings instead of attending school and have limited memories of the world outside the smoky mansion. Ash House’s residents complete their chores with single-mindedness and nearly religious obsession, performing “nicenesses” and avoiding “nastiness.” This creates a rigid framework against which the newcomer, renamed Solitude (nicknamed Sol) rebels. As Sol questions the mindset, he also discovers alliances, potential dangers, and the secrets of the house. When the much-feared, cruel Doctor reappears to “help” Sol, the revelations are slow, winding like ivy up a manor, and the payoffs are worth the patience. Brickley’s bleak black and white illustrations and smoke-swirled chapter headings offer exquisite visuals to Walker’s foreboding, atmospheric descriptions.

Abandoned children, a missing headmaster, an arrogant and brutal doctor conducting torturous medical experiments, monitored by bird-like drones, hunted by strange beasts in the woods: Ash House is not for the faint of heart, but this immersive world and carefully crafted plot provides a steady study of how friendship, trust, and cooperation clashes with hyper-rule orientation and authoritarianism.  Readers who enjoyed Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children or who are ready to step into a more speculative world than Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events or Golding’s 1954 Lord of the Flies will find much to enjoy in The Ash House. Recommended for ages 8-12.

Contains violence, medical torture.

Reviewed by E.F. Schraeder