Turn Off the Light: A Novel
What happens when a house doesn’t only have memories, but instead takes part in them? TURN OFF THE LIGHT is built around that idea, and then slowly but surely turns the screws on you until the very walls seem to be in on it. Jacquie Walters is back after her first novel, with something much more ambitious in terms of how it’s put together. This isn’t a typical haunted-house story told across time; it’s a meeting of generations and a look at fear, belief, and how women survive. In the 1600s, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Edith is a healer, someone her community depends on, but also someone they worry about. In the present, Claire returns to the house where she grew up to look after her father as his health declines, bringing her little girl along, and the place she once called home seems strangely aware of the situation. The link between the two women is the land the house stands on, but Walters wants to explore something beyond where things happen: she’s thinking about what people leave behind.