As October approaches, consider adding sapphic graphic novel A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll (they/them) (previously credited as Emily Carroll) to your TBR. Winner of the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Comics, A Guest in the House follows Abby, an unassuming small-town woman who has just gotten married to David, a recently widowed dentist, and is dealing with an unexpected third wheel: the ghost of David’s dead first wife, Sheila.
A Guest in the House is set in Canada in the 1990s. Abby, a cashier at Valu-Save who is nearly 30 years old, struggles with self-esteem, has difficulty talking to people, and doesn’t have any friends. David and Crystal, his daughter from his first marriage, moved to Abby’s town after Sheila passed away. Abby was pleasantly surprised when David took an interest in her. Their union calmed a dread in her that had existed since she was a child.
At the start of the novel, Abby and David have been married for almost a year and Abby is still trying to find her footing as a wife and stepmother. In a check-in before summer break, Crystal’s teacher reports to Abby that Crystal is telling other children her mother lives in the water and she going to live with her someday. While Abby is taken aback by this news, David is unphased and discourages Abby from talking to Crystal about her feelings. But Abby’s curiosity is piqued and as she begins to uncover the mystery of Sheila’s death, she connects with Sheila’s memory in unexpected ways.
Carroll’s artwork is incredibly captivating. They do a masterful job of setting the relentlessly ominous tone of the novel in both color and facial expressions. The majority of the frames are in black and white, but depictions of Abby’s vivid imagination are in bright reds and blues.
I had mixed feelings about the pacing and plot of the book. I had lots of questions about what was happening and why, and found myself impatiently trying to solve the mystery before it unfolded. Despite my best efforts, Carroll kept me guessing until the very last page.
If you’re looking for an eerie, unsettling read to start off spooky season, definitely pick this up. While it wasn’t my favorite book, I enjoyed the haunting artwork and found that the novel was thought-provoking and challenged my assumptions and my ability to sit with the discomfort of not always knowing what was going on.
Carroll is the writer and artist of many award-winning comics, both online and in print, including Through the Woods, their debut horror comics collection,and When I Arrived at the Castle, a graphic novel adaptation of Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak. You can check out some more of Carroll’s art and comics at emcarroll.com.
Trigger warnings for gore, death, murder, suicide, and drowning.
Raquel R. Rivera (she/her/ella) is a Latina lawyer and lady lover from New Jersey. She is in a lifelong love affair with books and earned countless free personal pan pizzas from the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! program as a kid to prove it.
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