The Haunting of Velkwood, Gwendolyn Kiste
The Haunting of Velkwood, Gwendolyn Kiste
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Haunting of Velkwood

Author: Gwendolyn Kiste

Narrator: Jennifer Pickens

Unabridged: 7 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/05/2024

Categories: Fiction, Gothic, Feminist, Horror


Synopsis

Winner of the 2025 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel
Finalist for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Award

From Bram Stoker Award–winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes an “emotionally devastating, character driven ghost story” (CrimeReads) about three childhood friends who miraculously survive the night everyone in their suburban hometown turned to ghosts—perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.

The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared behind a near-impenetrable veil that only three survivors could enter—and only one has in the past twenty years, until now.

Talitha Velkwood has avoided anything to do with the tragedy that took her mother and eight-year-old sister, drifting from one job to another, never settling anywhere or with anyone, feeling as trapped by her past as if she was still there in the small town she so desperately wanted to escape from. When a new researcher tracks her down and offers to pay her to come back to enter the vicinity, Talitha claims she’s just doing it for the money. Of all the crackpot theories over the years, no one has discovered what happened the night Talitha, her estranged, former best friend Brett, and Grace, escaped their homes twenty years ago. Will she finally get the answers she’s been looking for all these years, or is this just another dead end?

Award-winning author Gwendolyn Kiste has created an “eerie and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) suburban ghost story about a small town that trapped three young women who must confront the past if they’re going to have a future.

About Gwendolyn Kiste

Gwendolyn Kiste is the three-time Bram Stoker Award–winning author of The Rust MaidensReluctant Immortals, Boneset & FeathersPretty Marys All in a Row, and The Haunting of Velkwood. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in outlets including LitHubNightmare Magazine, Best American Science Fiction and FantasyVastarien, Tor’s NightfireThe Lineup, and The Dark. She’s a Lambda Literary Award winner, and her fiction has also received the This Is Horror Award for Novel of the Year as well as nominations for the Premios Kelvin, Ignotus, and Dragon Awards. Originally from Ohio, she now resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, their excitable calico cat, and not nearly enough ghosts. Find her online at GwendolynKiste.com.


Reviews

Release date of March 2024 What a haunting and gothic read! Full of paranormal psychological suspense with a dash of horror, the other worldly echos from a town trapped in time made my hair stand on end. Dark and eerie, you’ll start wondering how possible it is for remnants of people once living to s......more

This was SO GOOD and SO CREEPY! I'm going to be thinking about it for awhile. The Haunting of Velkwood is a speculative horror novel about a neighborhood that suddenly disappeared behind a veil that no on can pass through. Well, almost no one... Only three people from the neighborhood survived the di......more

Goodreads review by Becky

STAR review in the Dec. 1, 2023 issue of Booklist and on the blog: [URL not allowed] Three Words: Suburban Malaise, Riveting, Character Driven story So much more soon but for now, if you loved The Rust Maidens, this is better but similar. Should easily have another LAMBDA litera......more

This was a beautifully written book, a perfect blend of suspense, paranormal and horror made it one of the most original ghost stories I've read, I loved the refreshing take of the haunted house trope, whats better than one haunted house? A block full of em, weaved throughout the haunting prose is a......more

Goodreads review by Dutchie

I loved this! It was so original and hit so many different areas. There was horror, there was family drama, there was sci-fi. Quick Synopsis: Talitha used to live on a "haunted street" called Velkwood. Her and her four friends left before the street just up and vanished. Of course, this is now broug......more