The Eighth House

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What to expect

'This is an extraordinary book. It moves in and around you like a ghost. I feel lucky to have experienced it' -- Daisy Johnson - author of Everything Under

In the archives of the national library, a researcher named Linda sees a nine year-old girl's face in the pages of a yellowed newspaper, and the seed of an obsession is planted in her mind.

Birgitta Sivander was brutally murdered one night in May 1948. The culprit was never found. Linda feels a deep connection to Birgitta, and in the months that follow she compulsively researches the case.

Meanwhile, a life is taking root inside Linda; she is to have a daughter of her own. As she grapples with the wonder and anxiety of motherhood, she gradually pieces together Birgitta's story, closing in on the possible killer.

Driven to redeem a lost child, Linda must find a way to lay Birgitta to rest. Moving and unputdownable, The Eighth House is a shattering examination of why cycles of violence persist, and an invocation of the hope that new life brings.

Critics Review

'Linda Segtnan audaciously faces her own worst fears as a mother in a book at once devastatingly moving, rigorously thoughtful and sweepingly ambitious'
author of The Bitter Taste of Victory
'Evocative and poetic. The Eighth House contrasts all the hope that comes with bringing life into the world with the terror of knowing the danger that can lie ahead. The result is fascinating, chilling and utterly haunting'
author of Inferno: A memoir of motherhood and madness
'Brilliant. Incisive and unique, sometimes sad, but always clear-sighted and gripping'
Sara Baume
'Thoroughly researched and philosophically vigorous, it is an alarmingly compulsive read'
The Irish Times
'A daring debut'
Svenska Dagbladet
'At once a frank, compelling, and rigorous account of a terrible murder, and a haunting depiction of a mother's ferocious love. I could not put The Eighth House down.'
author of Blueberries
'The Eighth House is a story about love and love's failures, both terrible and true. Segtnan writes with such clarity and moral precision. An important contribution to the literature of motherhood'
author of Delphi
'This is an extraordinary book. It moves in and around you like a ghost. I feel lucky to have experienced it'
author of Everything Under
'An extraordinary book, I was captivated.'
author of The Archaeology of Loss
'A wonderful book; a quest to confront the monsters we make. This is a haunted and haunting story, compellingly told'
author of Pit Lullabies

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