A classic psychological thriller set in an old dark house.
A young couple and their friend are driving through the mountains of Wales in an old car when a torrential downpour forces them to seek shelter for the night. They take refuge in an ancient, crumbling mansion inhabited by the strange and sinister Femm family and their brutish servant Morgan. The benighted travellers naively drink, talk, and play games to pass the time while the storm rages outside. But as the night progresses and tensions rise, dangerous and unexpected secrets emerge. On the house’s top floor are two locked doors; behind one of them lies the mysterious, unseen Sir Roderick Femm, and behind the other lurks an unspeakable terror. Which is more deadly: the apocalyptic storm outside the house or the unknown horrors that await within? And will any of them survive the night?
Behind the obvious narrative lies a subtext of personal post-traumatic stress, resulting from first hand experience of the terrors of the First World War. A theme relevant to the many survivors of cruel conflicts today.
The 1932 a James Whale movie adaptation under the title The Old Dark House recently placed no71 on Time Outs’ list of all time Horror Films. Decades later a much more loosely interpreted Hammer Films version was released in 1963. Said to be the first-ever ‘haunted house psychodrama’ the book’s legacy can be traced not only to the likes of The Rocky Horror Show but even the Adams family TV and film franchise. In 2017 a theatre adaption in London played to great reviews and won best director at the Off West End awards.
Available: Penguin UK publishing October 2026 and Penguin US publishing in time for 100th anniversary of publication.
J.B PRIESTLEY 