This Cursed House

In 1962, 27-year-old Jemma Barker abandons her life in Chicago, leaving behind nothing and no one. She accepts a job with the mysterious Duchon family who live just outside New Orleans. In her haste, Jemma didn’t ask much about the new job and doesn’t know what to make of the odd clan who greets her. She thought she was hired as a tutor, but instead she is told she is to be a companion of sorts, watched over by steely matriarch Honorine. As Jemma learns more about the job and the unsettling Duchon family, she realizes she must use a gift she’s been hiding to help break the family’s curse. Sandeen’s debut is a complicated and atmospheric Southern gothic with many layers. Chanté McCormick provides a haunting narration of a family trapped by a curse—and its own demons—and a young woman forced to help. Her narration sets a menacing tone as the family gets closer to the truth. Listeners will be swept up in the secrets and lies of the Duchon family, unable to tear themselves away until the very end.