In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth. They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over. 

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.

Praise for This Cursed House:

‘An absolute marvel of a debut from a prodigious talent. A richly atmospheric, utterly chilling ghost story, an enthralling puzzle box of family scandals and secrets – that's also an unflinching examination of the insidiousness of racism, the horrors of colorism’ Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Black Sheep and Such Sharp Teeth

‘An enthralling, twisty Southern Gothic historical full of family secrets and century-spanning sins. 

The dark, atmospheric Southern gothic ghost story longlisted for Goodreads’ Horror Book of the Year 2024‘A sinister and beautifully rendered Southern Gothic, This Cursed House explores the real-life horrors of racism and trauma. Del Sandeen’s stunning debut haunted me’ Alexis Henderson, author of The Year of the Witching----Louisiana, 1962.

A remarkable debut’ Eden Royce, award-winning author of Root Magic‘An inglorious remnant of American history is handled so deftly that you won't believe it's Del Sandeen's first novel’ Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor

Author: Del Sandeen

Horror & ghost stories

Published on 23 October 2025 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback / softback | 384 pages
128 x 198 x 26 | 272g