A Good House for Children is gothic fiction. I bought my copy new.Review:
This story alternates between two time periods, 1976 and 2017-2018. In 1976, Lydia is a live-in nanny for a family in the grip of grief. Doug, Sara's husband, died after a painful battle with cancer, and Sara has decided that the best thing for her children is to move from London to the Reeve, a large house out in the country. Lydia, who is particularly devoted to Sara's 8-year-old son Philip, goes with them. In 2017, Orla's husband Nick buys the Reeve, convinced his family will be happy and his son, who has selective mutism, will finally start speaking again. Orla allows herself to be swept up by his plans, even as she internally quakes at the idea of fixing up a house that size mostly on her own, since Nick will be spending most weekdays in the city for work.
Both Lydia and Orla soon find themselves uncomfortable with the isolation of the Reeve and being the ones pretty much solely looking after the children - Orla because Nick is physically absent, and Lydia because Sara is emotionally absent. Gradually, they both become aware that there's something off about the Reeve. It has a reputation with the villagers. Odd things keep happening, and the children have supposedly met others who claim to live in the Reeve. Lydia and Orla both become desperate to protect the children from whatever it is that inhabits the house.
