In the Houses of the Dead There Are No Stairs

Adventure
Magical realism
Mystery

Houses always resemble the people who live inside them.

It’s been two years since Dodo last saw her cousins and her grandmother in her house in Puglia. Two years since the accident that left half of the villa consumed by fire. Dodo has never wanted to think back to that day—the flames, her, still living in that house yet already seeming so far away. But now that the family has gathered again, she can’t avoid returning to that place one more time. And, once again, no one believes her.

When strange events begin to haunt the villa and the adults are too busy arguing to notice, it will be up to the kids to face the threat. To do so, Dodo, her brother Giulio, and their cousins Cesare, Camillo, and Cecilia must venture into the dark belly of the house—the burned, forbidden, and hidden part, where everything blurs and distorts, as if animated by the house itself. Or by *her*. Because, in the end, houses always resemble the people who live inside them. And if they don’t figure out what the house wants in time, it will devour them all, one by one.

  • Intense and surprising writing, a moving family story
    — all seen through the eyes of a young girl.
  • Adventure, thrills, magical realism, and unforgettable characters.
  • Se mi senti chiama meets Coraline
Publisher: Mondadori
Target: 12+
Year: 2024
Author
Lucia Perrucci

Lucia Perrucci grew up in Puglia, on an isolated country road, surrounded by olive trees, cats, and film rolls. She was convinced she owned a velociraptor, so much so that her father gave her her first camera to prove it. Always in love with stories, she studied Literature in Bologna and Cinema at the Giffoni Film Festival. She's a creative writing instructor and contributes to magazines and anthologies. Today, she writes and teaches at a middle school, where she absolutely adores her students and always dedicates her stories to them. In 2022, she debuted with Mondadori with "La prodigiosa macchina cattura anime di Cassandra Apollinaire," which will also be published soon in France. "Nelle case dei morti non ci sono scale" (2024) is her second novel for young adults. This autumn, the fourth novel in "The Hidden Society" series, co-written with the Archer sisters for Castoro Off, will be released.

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