“People come to visit my home and I love to show them around. It’s not the original house of course. That was destroyed the day my entire family died. But I don’t think their ghosts know the difference.

Pera Sinclair was nine the day the pilot intentionally crashed his plane into her family’s grand home, killing everyone inside. She was the girl who survived the tragedy, a sympathetic oddity, growing stranger by the day. Over the decades she rebuilt the huge and rambling building on the original site, recreating what she had lost, each room telling a piece of the story of her life and that of the many people who died there, both before and after the disaster. Her sister, murdered a hundred miles away. The soldier, broken by war. Death follows Pera, and she welcomes it in as an old friend. And while she doesn’t believe in ghosts, she’s not above telling a ghost story or two to those who come to visit Sinclair House.

As Pera shows a young family around her home on the last haunted house tour of the season, an unexpected group of men arrive. One she recognises, but the others are strangers. But she knows their type all too well. Dangerous men, who will hurt the family without a second thought, and who will keep an old woman alive only so long as she is useful. But as she begins to show them around her home and reveal its secrets, the dangerous men will learn that she is far from helpless. After all, death seems to follow her wherever she goes…”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The Underhistory by Kaaron Warren. The Underhistory was published by Viper Books on 11th April 2024 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow next year. I chose to read a free ARC of The Underhistory but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to Angie at Viper Books for sending me a finished copy.

Pera Sinclair isn’t frightened of death. As a young child Pera was the sole survivor of a terrible tragedy which killed her entire family. Her family home, Sinclair House, was also destroyed. But over the years Pera has rebuilt the house from the ground up, restoring the rooms and decorating them with treasures and oddities from her travels. She dedicates each room to a family member or one of the many other people who died when the plane intentionally crashed into the house. And as she guides curious tourists around the maze of her home, she tells them stories about the ghosts that reside there. It’s approaching the end of the season and Pera, now in her sixties, is keen to have a break. She’s partway through the last tour when a group of men arrive, letting themselves into the house. Pera immediately knows the men are trouble and are there to steal her most precious belongings, and perhaps more. Goodness knows what they will do to the young family she is escorting around the house. In a bid to keep herself and her guests safe, Pera encourages the men to join the tour. But there’s more to Pera than meets the eye. And the small group of men are about to find out that they’ve underestimated Pera Sinclair…

The Underhistory is one of a kind. It’s the most unique and intriguing piece of fiction I have read in a long, long time. Pera is a sublime character. Shaped and moulded by her own personal tragedy at a young age. Bearing the almost suffocating burden of survivor’s guilt whilst her entire family (and it was a large family with many sisters) perished. All the while knowing that she would have been killed too had she not been behaving like a petulant, spoilt child (I’m sure every nine-year-old has their moments!). However, Pera’s dance with tragedy began several years before her entire family were wiped out with the murder of her older sister, Hazel, in 1936. As the blurb says, death seems to follow Pera wherever she goes. She’s no longer scared of dying or death. Death has been present at every twist and turn of her life, and she’s managed to avoid it. So far…

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Underhistory is a very different book to everything else that’s currently available out there. With such well-drawn, believable characters, a setting that is as much a part of the story as Pera is herself, and with an ever-prevalent, pressing sense of threat, plus a truly satisfying conclusion, it’s definitely one to add to your bookshelf. The reader gets a sense that something is very wrong from the moment the men arrive at the house. From then on, you can feel the aggression simmering. The balance of power has been disturbed and you can never be sure how things are going to go. I didn’t have a clue as to which direction the author was going to take the story but I was delighted with the ending. All in all, The Underhistory is a slow-burn tale that transports the reader to the heart of Sinclair House and its many dark and deadly secrets. The more I got to know Pera, the more I liked her and wanted her to succeed in her plight to save both the young family and the house she had so lovingly restored. This is the first book I have read by Kaaron Warren but I’m going to make sure it’s not the last. Also, I loved that the book is Australian. Regular visitors to the blog may be aware that I’m pretty obsessed with Australian books and authors so that was a lovely unexpected surprise and just made me like the book even more. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of The Underhistory. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Underhistory by Kaaron Warren was published in the UK by Viper Books on 11th April 2024 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Kaaron Warren is the author of the novels Slights, Walking the Tree, Mistification, Tide of Stone and The Grief Hole and the short story collections Through Splintered Walls, The Grinding House, and Dead Sea Fruit. Her short stories have won her a Shirley Jackson Award, as well as multiple Australian Shadows Awards, Ditmar Awards and Aurealis Awards. She lives in Canberra, Australia.