The Women in the Walls, by Amy Lukavics

The Women in the Walls, by Amy Lukavics

From my column about The Women in the Walls at Kirkus:

Beyond those issues—which really didn’t detract much from my overall enjoyment—The Women in the Walls has a great Gothic atmosphere, overbearing and heavy. Unlike most Gothics, interestingly, there aren’t any sexual overtones in regards to the teen characters—but those overtones are clearly there in regards to the adults. The familial and social dynamics are wonderfully fraught, and Lucy’s narration is appropriately overwrought, at times teetering on the brink of channeling V.C. Andrews:

The girl lives in a beautiful dollhouse made of stone, I wrote one time in my diary when I was young, my handwriting shaky but sure. But underneath her shining plastic smile, there are only screams.