Eleven Novels where the House is a Character too

/ Claire Fuller
Bookshelves filled with various titles, featuring a stack of books topped by 'Small Bombs at Dimperley' by Lissa Evans, with a green banner that reads 'Eleven novels where the house is a character too.'

Do you love books where the house is almost as important as the human characters? Me too.

I’ve just finished Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans and I loved the mismatched, ugly Dimperley Manor full of taxidermied animals. (I’ll be speaking to Lissa about it at Winchester Books Festival on 19th April 2026 – join us!)

And it got me thinking about other novels where the houses are full of presence, including, ahem, one of mine.

There are a few stately homes amongst this lot but not all of them are grand. You’ll also find houses full of sand, houses and land passed down through time, and one I almost forgot, the graphic novel, The Wreck by Lizzy Stewart which was published this week. (Thanks to my Librarian Husband for the finger.)

Tell me what I’ve missed! There are already others that I’ve been thinking of as I type, including North Woods, and Brideshead Revisited. But let me know which other novels you love where the house is (almost) centre stage.

Click on the pictures to be taken to Bookshop.org (UK) where you can buy most of them.

A close-up of the book 'Albion' by Anna Hope, featuring a colorful cover with the title prominently displayed. The book is placed on top of other stacked books in a cozy bookshelf setting.
Book cover of 'Rosemary's Baby' by Ira Levin, featuring a red background with a white baby carriage illustration, placed on a stack of other books in a cozy library setting.
A close-up of the book 'The Infamous Gilberts' by Angela Tomaski, displayed on top of a stack of other books, with a colorful bookshelf in the background.
A close-up of the book 'Bitter Orange' by Claire Fuller, displayed on top of other books, with a bookshelf in the background filled with various titles.
A stack of books with Kazuo Ishiguro's 'The Remains of the Day' prominently displayed in front. The book features an illustrated cover with a coastal scene and a vintage car. In the background, a bookshelf filled with various books can be seen.
A stack of books on a wooden shelf with a focus on the cover of 'The Haunting of Hill House' by Shirley Jackson, featuring a figure in water, surrounded by other books in the background.
The book 'Visitation' by Jenny Erpenbeck displayed on a wooden shelf surrounded by other books, featuring a blue cover with illustrations.
A hardcover book titled 'The Little Stranger' by Sarah Waters displayed on a wooden shelf, surrounded by various other books.
A person pointing at the book titled 'The Wreck' by Lizzy Stewart, displayed on a wooden shelf surrounded by other books.
The book 'The Elementals' by Michael McDowell displayed on a bookshelf, with an introduction by Michael Rowe.

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I’ll be shortly going on a UK tour for my next novel, Hunger and Thirst. I’d love it if you could join me on one of my visits, or online – including a US online event. More details here.

16 thoughts on “Eleven Novels where the House is a Character too”

      • Yes! The house is so central to A Spool of Blue Thread and her writing really paints a vivid picture. In some ways the house is the driving plot point for every character, at the risk of saying too much! I hope you do get the chance to read it.

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  4. The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddon. Good scary book recommended by Stephen King. Eerie and disturbing.

    Reply

  5. Thank you for this! I keep a shelf on Goodreads (“about-a-house”) for just these books, and I’ll be adding some of these to it for future reading. Additional suggestions: “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson, the play “Arcadia” by Tom Stoppard, “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke, and “The Hundred-Year House” by Rebecca Makkai.

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