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The Unhaunting

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What to expect

In this short, sharp, Southern Gothic horror novel, home takes on a whole new meaning. From Micaiah Johnson, the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Space Between Worlds.

At the end of the Civil War, a daughter of the Confederacy made what she thought was an innocent wish: to build a house where nothing bad could happen. But peace came at a price, and one hundred and seventy years later Shantell and her friends are about to discover where all that darkness ended up.

When Shantell’s best friend, Avery, tells her he has inherited a house big enough to make their dreams of a sanctuary come true, she’s too cautious to be optimistic. A lifetime of loss has taught her cynicism, and even though Avery swears the house has never experienced a tragedy, she goes along expecting everything from black mold to evil spirits.

But not only is the house in better shape than they’d expected, it makes them better too: Shantell’s anxiety stops flaring up; terminally shallow Avery is suddenly capable of deeper emotions; and Tobias, Avery’s older brother and the contractor for the job, even quits chain smoking.

There’s an eeriness to the calm, and it’s almost a relief when they realize they do not walk alone in Abernathy House. As they dig into the house’s history, Shantell, Avery, and Tobias discover that there’s only one thing worse than a house that’s haunted: a house that desperately wants to be.

'You've never seen a haunted house like this one before' KYLIE LEE BAKER
'Original, imaginative, and terrifying' P. DJÈLÍ CLARK
'Charts the liminal middle ground between Shirley Jackson and Toni Morrison' CLAY McLEOD CHAPMAN
'Ferocious and poetic' VERONICA ROTH
'Ingenious... anxiety-inducing from start to twisty end' VICTOR MANIBO

© Micaiah Johnson 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

A brilliant, spellbinding tale of terror that deftly interrogates privilege and generational trauma while scaring your socks off. You’ve never seen a haunted house like this one before
Kylie Lee Baker, Sunday Times bestselling author of Japanese Gothic
A bold, beautiful, gut-punch of a story, at turns ferocious and poetic - and sometimes both at once
Veronica Roth, New York Times bestselling author of Chosen Ones
One of the most original, imaginative, and terrifying takes on the haunted house genre I've read. . . Johnson has written a novel of unfathomable crimes, privilege, and the buried traumas of our past that exposes both the horrors of the supernatural, and the ones that lurk in our mundane world. Once you start reading, you will not want to put it down
P. Djèlí Clark, award-winning author of Ring Shout
The Unhaunting charts the liminal middle ground between Shirley Jackson and Toni Morrison, mapping out the unnerving terrain that exists within the bated breath between Micaiah Johnson’s beguiling words
Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters
Anxiety-inducing from start to twisty end, The Unhaunting kept me up all night! As only Micaiah Johnson can deliver, this ingenious spin on the haunted house story explores how privilege, much like Abernathy House, is as mesmerizing as it is cruel, and the price it exacts is nothing short of horrific. Come inside, if you dare
Victor Manibo, author of The Villa, Once Beloved
A strong new voice
Sunday Times
[The Space Between Worlds] It remained two steps ahead of my imagination
The New York Times
[The Space Between Worlds] Twisting, suspenseful and profound
Max Gladstone, co-author of the Hugo and Nebula-winning THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR
[The Space Between Worlds] Johnson excels at contrasting lives of privilege and poverty
Guardian
Author Micaiah Johnson
Narrator Emma Ladji
Duration 7 hours and 29 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781405997249
Format Audiobook
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Genre Contemporary horror and ghost stories, Fiction: gothic, Narrative theme: Social issues
Availability AU, GB, IE

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