The Knocking

In a house this haunted, both the living and the dead pose dangers to a female journalist in nineteenth-century New York in a chilling historical gothic by the author of Who Is the Liar.

It's 1850 when intrepid journalist and women's-rights advocate Edith Ann, "E. A.," Howe arrives at the home of iconic newspaper founder Horace Greeley. Her assignment is to chronicle the uncanny gifts of Cathie Fox, an eleven-year-old medium in Horace's charge. Mysterious knocking sounds follow Cathie as she channels the restless spirit of the Greeleys' deceased son, Pickie--a ghostly consolation to Horace's profoundly unwell and grieving wife. As her condition worsens, E. A. suspects foul play.

Something is very wrong in this house. Sharp-tongued housekeepers warn her to steer clear of the attic. Pickie's alleged messages from beyond are more disturbing than comforting. And the seemingly guileless Cathie claims that the house is eating her alive. All the while Cathie's beautiful English governess is awakening something restless in E. A.

As she wrestles with her own childhood terrors, E. A. must investigate the story of the spirit-knockings and reveal whether the greatest threats are coming from the living or the dead.

(c) 2026 by Laura Lee Bahr, all rights reserved.

Laura Lee Bahr is the author of the novels Who Is the Liar; Haunt, winner of the Wonderland Book Award for Best Novel of 2011; and Long-Form Religious Porn; and the short story collection Angel Meat, a Wonderland Book Award winner for Best Collection 2017. Her short stories have been featured in over a dozen literary magazines and anthologies, including Ghost Parachute, Tragedy Queens, Francesca Lia Block's Lit Angels, and the Noir Volume of Nicholas Winding Refn's byNWR.com. Her filmography includes writing/directing the feature film Boned, winner of Best Micro-budget Feature, Toronto Independent Film Festival. She was awarded the spring 2018 writer-in-residence at the Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida. For more information, visit www.lauraleebahr.com.