House of Salt and Sorrows

By: Erin A. Craig

Narrated by: Emily Lawrence

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Georgia Peach Book Award nominee

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Get swept away by this “haunting” (Bustle) YA novel about twelve beautiful sisters living on an isolated island estate who begin to mysteriously die one by one. This dark and atmospheric fairy tale inspired story is perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.

"Step inside a fairy tale."—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister's deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next. House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Be careful who you dance with...

And don't miss Erin Craig's Small Favors, a mesmerizing and chilling novel about dark wishes and even darker dreams.

©2019 Erin A. Craig (P)2019 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"It’s a fairy tale, a young-adult romance (though gothic enough for adult readers) and a whodunit too."—The Wall Street Journal

“A tingling and chilling read.”—Huffington Post

"An eerie, lovely Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling full of ghosts and gods and a fascinating waterfront world and I'm reading it from behind my fingers."—Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood

a creepy, gothic mystery!

An interesting retelling of the Dancing Princesses fairy tale, this book takes the basic premise and makes it new with a gothic, atmospheric and very creepy story. The narratation was very good, and brought just the right voice to the main character. The first part of the book was a little slow, and seemed to lose its focus a bit as the timely discovery of a magic portal to amazing balls where the sisters can dance all night distracts the main character from her dective work in the murder mysteries, but it is all worth it because the slow, creepy build really brought it all together by about 2/3 of the way in. The author is particularly adept at slow burn, creepy scenes...several times I was on the edge of my seat with the vivid imagery! The threat of madness and real vs fantasy was well handled as well. Most questions were answered, and the world building was interesting enough I would love to read more stories set in this world. Not perfect, but an excellent listen and I will be looking for more from the author!

Gifted Narration!!!

All the happy awes are overflowing from my heart!! This novel was haunting and tragic but also intriguing and hopeful! Some passages were extra frightening but just ramped up the must keep reading feeling. It was quite interesting trying to decipher the mystery that clouded so many events. I loved the sisters and wanted the curse to skip over the remaining ones. Their lives had already been so tragic when we were introduced to them. I thought we'd have more of a love triangle and honesty I'm relieved that it wasn't that stretched out. As the book was concluding, I totally put some of the last puzzle pieces together and was enthralled to see just what would happen next! Rethinking everything was utterly mind blowing and quite the mind bender! Annaleigh most definitely pulled upon my heart and I just needed to see that she'd be all right! This was brilliantly magnificent and magcial and I didn't really want to read that last word! I loved, loved, loved the ending!! Wishes absolutely do come true!!!

Good, but slow in the middle.

This book started good, dragged in the middle, then got absolutely insane and pulled me back in.
The middle part is the only reason it took me so long to finish this. I listened to it at work,, and normally, I can finish an audiobook in a weekend. But that middle stretched it out to take three weekends.
But when things started hitting the fan, I was hooked again.
I definitely recommend this book. It gets better once you get past the section that's devoted to frills and lace and dancing, despite tremendous loss, and the lapses and the unbelievably uncaring attitude makes sense later.
If you get the audiobook, you won't be disappointed. The narrator did a great job.

Good story predictable ending

Beautifully written but predictable and it fell into the wrapping everything up nearly in the last 45 min trap. Overall a decent book but wouldn’t listen again.

captive

I really like the way the book had scene oceans throughout. it was captivating it lured you in and kept you wanting more and the slight Romance was great.

overall an enjoyable and interesting read

The whole book progressed a little slowly. it was quite predictable as far as who the villain is. but there were some mind-twisting aspects that I enjoyed.
it was also delightfully creepy in some places, but then just disgusting in a couple different parts. I was eating delicious French toast and I lost my appetite in one particular nasty part at the end.
the romance was quite shallow and a little empty. like a broth with too little bouillon in it. I mean, the love interest was ok, but nothing spectacular.
I would still recommend this book for people who like this sort of books to read once.

the narrator was nasally and a little annoying sometimes. I'm glad she doesn't have a monotonous voice, but rather a very expressive way of reading and she does well with feeding emotion into the words.

a great read

loved it! kept me on my toes and had such detailed passages that my imagination was not left wanting.

Loved it

I was captivated by every word! An amazing voyage into an enchanting book! A must read.

Cute for middle school girl

I found the main character basic and simple but it’s a cute little story, I feel like if I was in 8th grade this would have been amazing.

Unexpected

Not at all what I expected nor what I usually read. Absolutely loved it, complete surprise. Twists and turns and actual goosebumps. Great performance from the narrator. Will miss her in the second book, but it makes sense to switch with the character.