Ruby is almost happy with her secluded life deep in the forest with her mother and sister Opal. But when her mother gets sick, Ruby decides to provide for her family the only way she knows how: by marrying the enigmatic owner of a bizarre mansion, and dutifully serving as hostess to his strange parties. There’s just one problem: what happened to all his previous wives? The answer is stranger than Ruby could have imagined…
Endorsements:
The Ghosts of Blaubart Mansion is somehow as disturbing as it is delightful. An American Bluebeard on shrooms. Ivy Grimes writes with the wry humor of Brautigan and the dream-like disconnectedness of Murakami and always brings something new to the table. You will get sucked right into this strangely familiar or familiarly strange culty community, where two sisters confront and untangle a poisonous local history. It’s a surreal Southern Gothic with one part tender character work and two parts uh oh what the hell was that, and you’re not going to read anything else quite like it.
—Thomas Ha, author of Uncertain Sons
“If you ever wished Kurt Vonnegut and Karen Russell had written a quirky gothic ghost story about complicated histories, family secrets, maze-like mansions, alchemy, and talking possums, then this is the book for you! A fun romp all the way through!”
—Corey Farrenkopf, author of Living in Cemeteries
Illuminated by fantastical and surreal imagery, with bizarre (and often surprising) turns of event, The Ghosts of Blaubart Mansion is a beautiful chimera of fiction, both familiar and somehow entirely unique. Ivy Grimes’ work cannot be categorized, and furthermore, shouldn’t be—it is its own radiant, hybrid thing, free from constraints of genre or expectation, and is all the more brilliant for it.
— TJ Price, author of The Disappearance of Tom Nero
“The Ghosts of Blaubart Mansion expertly blends a fairytale atmosphere with contemporary dread and philosophy to create an unforgettable tale. With whimsical anachronisms alongside dashes of magic, humor, and of course glass, this is much more than a reimagining of Bluebeard, but a thought-provoking dissection of identity, loyalty, and love.”
—Emma E. Murray, author of Crushing Snails
I love The Ghosts of Blaubart Mansion so goddang much, I could scream about it. It felt like I had been hooked and reeled before I even really understood what had caught me. That’s as simple as talking possums sauntering by or the sudden appearance of a brutalized ghost or a God-honest castle…but even the revelation that these folks are watching shows on laptops and sending texts, or that subcultures like goths exist…it’s incredibly disarming. Phew had my heart before his first “yes’m” and Annie is so wonderfully foul I wanted to shake her hand. I’m Ruby-aligned all the way, and I couldn’t believe how much she made me laugh and cry. I could hear those speeches and feel those thoughts.
—Matthew Mitchell, author of Chaindevils
Ivy Grimes 