The Upstairs House : A Novel

Winner of the Chicago Review of Books Fiction Award

A Good Morning America Book of the Month Selection A Popsugar Must-Read Book of the MonthA Buzzfeed Most Anticipated Book of the YearA The Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year

Provocative. [An] assured, beautifully written book.Sarah Lyall, New York Times

In this provocative meditation on new motherhoodShirley Jackson meets The Awakeninga postpartum womans psychological unraveling becomes intertwined with the ghostly appearance of childrens book writer Margaret Wise Brown.

Theres a madwoman upstairs, and only Megan Weiler can see her.

Ravaged and sore from giving birth to her first child, Megan is mostly raising her newborn alone while her husband travels for work. Physically exhausted and mentally drained, shes also wracked with guilt over her unfinished dissertationa thesis on mid-century childrens literature.

Enter a new upstairs neighbor: the ghost of quixotic childrens book writer Margaret Wise Brownauthor of the beloved classic Goodnight Moonwhose existence no one else will acknowledge. It seems Margaret has unfinished business with her former lover, the once-famous socialite and actress Michael Strange, and is determined to draw Megan into the fray. As Michael joins the haunting, Megan finds herself caught in the wake of a supernatural power struggleand until she can find a way to quiet these spirits, she and her newborn daughter are in terrible danger.

Using Megans postpartum haunting as a powerful metaphor for a womans fraught relationship with her body and mind, Julia Fine once again delivers an imaginative and barely restrained, careful musing on female desire, loneliness, and hereditary inheritances (Washington Post).

Winner of the Chicago Review of Books Fiction Award

A Good Morning America Book of the Month Selection • A Popsugar Must-Read Book of the Month • A Buzzfeed Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A The Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year

“Provocative…. [An] assured, beautifully written book.” —Sarah Lyall, New York Times

In this provocative meditation on new motherhood—Shirley Jackson meets The Awakening—a postpartum woman’s psychological unraveling becomes intertwined with the ghostly appearance of children’s book writer Margaret Wise Brown. 

There’s a madwoman upstairs, and only Megan Weiler can see her.

Ravaged and sore from giving birth to her first child, Megan is mostly raising her newborn alone while her husband travels for work. Physically exhausted and mentally drained, she’s also wracked with guilt over her unfinished dissertation—a thesis on mid-century children’s literature.

Enter a new upstairs neighbor: the ghost of quixotic children’s book writer Margaret Wise Brown—author of the beloved classic Goodnight Moon—whose existence no one else will acknowledge. It seems Margaret has unfinished business with her former lover, the once-famous socialite and actress Michael Strange, and is determined to draw Megan into the fray. As Michael joins the haunting, Megan finds herself caught in the wake of a supernatural power struggle—and until she can find a way to quiet these spirits, she and her newborn daughter are in terrible danger.

Using Megan’s postpartum haunting as a powerful metaphor for a woman’s fraught relationship with her body and mind, Julia Fine once again delivers an imaginative and “barely restrained, careful musing on female desire, loneliness, and hereditary inheritances” (Washington Post).