Publishers Weekly
★ 05/13/2024
Coles astounds in her atmospheric gothic debut set in Victorian England. Orabella has never been expected to amount to much due to her lower-class background and biracial (half-Black, half-white) identity. When her white uncle, who took her in after her parents’ deaths, accrues a massive gambling debt, he barters Orabella as a wife to the mysterious Elias Blakersby to get out from under it. At 26, Orabella has never been with a man, making her nervous but determined to be a good wife. Fortunately, Elias is a kind man who spirits her away to his old but vast estate, Korringhill Manor, and dotes on her. Despite Elias’s apparent dedication to her happiness, life at Korringhill Manor grows increasingly nightmarish. Orabella’s creepy new servants refuse to leave her alone even for a moment, she has spells of dizziness and dissociation, and unexplained bruises show up on her thighs. As her perception of reality distorts, Orabella seeks to uncover the secrets of the Blakersby family before she is subsumed into the dreamlike manor. Coles’s prose is evocative and strange and pairs brilliantly with the gothic tropes she expertly deploys. This is a fever dream of a novel that readers won’t want to wake up from. Agent: Lane Heymont, Tobias Literary. (July)
From the Publisher
A hallucinatory Gothic nightmare, at once beautiful, cruel, and feral.”
— Eden Royce, award-winning author of Root Magic
"Coles’s prose is evocative and strange and pairs brilliantly with the Gothic tropes she expertly deploys. This is a fever dream of a novel that readers won’t want to wake up from." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An immersive horror fairy tale marrying Crimson Peak to Pan's Labyrinth upon strange foundations. You're never really safe here, with Midnight Rooms wondrously defying expectations and refusing obedience. Donyae Coles leads us into a house of sinister magic, full of corners for peeking around, but careful—these walls have claws. A feverish, labyrinthine debut." — Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth
“Midnight Rooms is a wonder—a rich and textured novel with the heart of a macabre fairy tale. Coles’ story is no less ominous, labyrinthine, and dark than the Gothic castle in which it takes place.”
— Neal Auch, artist and author of Disassembly of the Pig
"Coles turns the typical fairy tale upside down and inside out and back again. The novel shifts to something like a fever dream, as Orabella's visions of her life in the manor dissolve inside what seems to be a 'court of fairies and monsters.' Therein lies the confusion of Midnight Rooms, and in it, a dark mystery unravelling across its pages—what is Orabella's imagination, and what is real?. . . With vivid and gory detail, Midnight Rooms is a genre-spanning work of history and horror, fantasy and fairy tale, that pulses with a dark energy from start to unsettling finish." — Shelf Awareness
"Midnight Rooms is a gorgeous and heady take on the classic Gothic romance. Coles' deftly crafted heroine, Orabella, takes us along for a sweet and heavy fever dream of horror, with dark magic looming around every crumbling corner. A compelling story that won’t let go—this is everything I wanted.”
— Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Below
“An overwhelming sense of unease and rich atmosphere practically drip from every page in this disquieting and equally compelling debut novel from a new, devastatingly original voice in speculative fiction. In Midnight Rooms, Donyae Coles has crafted a superb and intricately layered fever dream that I continue to think about long after having closed the book.”
— Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
"Shadows dance in the corridors in Korringhill Manor and a family with secrets awaits in this decadent Gothic fairy tale. Donyae Coles' Midnight Rooms is a lush and shimmering, hallucinatory nightmare. . . captivating, potent and lyrical.” — Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Crime Scene
“The writing style and common tropes that fans have come to expect are all here—the decaying house, ever-shifting hallways, odd family gatherings, and a deadly, inherited curse….Coles’s novel is another stellar example of how marginalized voices are taking a perennially popular genre, previously dominated by white characters and authors, and revitalizing it for 21st-century readers in a manner that honors its history but injects brand-new terrors”
— Library Journal
"Nothing is as it seems. A gorgeous, rich, and claustrophobic gothic horror-mance that reads like a fever dream. This is a novel to be savored.” — Nino Cipri, Astoria Bookshop, Queens, New York
Library Journal
06/01/2024
DEBUT Orphaned Orabella, the child of a Black mother and a white father, lives under the care of her paternal uncle in 1840s England. She has been raised in the city as her cousin's companion, but now that her cousin has married, Orabella's uncle is eager to marry her off as well. When the handsome and rich Elias Blakersby, who is white, asks for her hand, Orabella, knowing her options are few, eagerly accepts. Whisked off to the family estate in the countryside, Orabella is separated from everyone and everything she knows. What follows is a classic gothic, told with a deep reverence for and knowledge of the genre. The writing style and common tropes that fans have come to expect are all here—the decaying house, ever-shifting hallways, odd family gatherings, and a deadly, inherited curse. But there is also a modern sensibility that will hook today's readers, with references to (literal) gaslightings and sensual and empowering sex scenes. VERDICT Coles's novel is another stellar example of how marginalized voices are taking a perennially popular genre, previously dominated by white characters and authors, and revitalizing it for 21st-century readers in a manner that honors its history but injects brand-new terrors, similar to Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas.
AUGUST 2024 - AudioFile
Georgina Campbell performs this gothic tale set in 1840s England. Orabella Mumthrope finds herself marrying a mysterious, wealthy stranger to help settle her uncle's debt. At her husband's historic home, she meets his family, all of whom seem to have far too many secrets. Campbell's performance capture's Orabella's frustration as she's given a strict routine and told never to stray from her wing of the house. The narration evokes the strange sinister feel of Orabella's new life in her husband's crumbling manor. As Orabella tries to figure out the key to her new family's strange behavior, Campbell's voice rises and falls with the twists and turns in the story, maintaining the listener's attention with every new revelation. K.D.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2024-06-15
In 1840, an Englishwoman fights for her sanity—and her life—when she marries into an exceedingly rich and mysterious family.
Orabella Mumthrope is the 26-year-old orphaned daughter of a white father and a Black mother; she’s living with her uncle, who grudgingly puts up with the arrangement, when Elias Blakersby shows up one day asking for her hand in marriage. It’s clear from the moment Orabella meets him that not everything is as it seems. Elias’ appearance is unkempt and his manner undeniably strange, but Orabella is thoroughly seduced by him and agrees to his proposal, leaving behind her family and friends for a new life at the Blakersby family estate. When Orabella and Elias arrive at Korringhill Manor, she discovers a home that has—in typical gothic fashion—fallen into decay. Elias’ family is less than welcoming to his new bride. While some of them are curt and distant, others act far too familiar with Orabella, treating her like a rare creature meant to be on display. Stranger still are the nightmarish bacchanalian dinner parties during which they seem to take on animalistic qualities. Despite Orabella’s initial misgivings, Elias convinces her they will have a long and happy life together as long as she does what she’s told and stays in her room at night. But the longer Orabella spends locked behind the doors at Korringhill, the harder it becomes to tell reality from dreams. While this novel has many of the trappings of a classic gothic, its supernatural undertones make it stand out. At times it feels like a fever dream, and will undoubtedly leave readers confused as they try to parse out what exactly is happening to Orabella within the dimly lit halls of Korringhill; the narrative becomes increasingly unclear as the story progresses.
A hallucinatory and hair-raising gothic horror story that suffers from a disjointed style.
