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House of Secrets
Raised in hiding in the country and knowing nothing of her mother, Lily has been taught from birth that her existence can only bring shame to her wealthy father. But when she nears her seventeenth birthday, she is finally summoned to her father’s house in town…and discovers that everything she thought about herself was wrong.
And now she is a prisoner.
Locked among all the other mysteries in her father’s grand house – including one young man who could be an ally or an enemy – she may finally discover the truth about her own nature…and exactly why her father considers her so valuable after all.
House of Secrets is a Gothic Victorian fantasy novelette of approximately 12,000 words. It’s full of mystery, magic, and just a touch of romance, and it will be published as an ebook on July 13, 2016.
And now she is a prisoner.
Locked among all the other mysteries in her father’s grand house – including one young man who could be an ally or an enemy – she may finally discover the truth about her own nature…and exactly why her father considers her so valuable after all.
House of Secrets is a Gothic Victorian fantasy novelette of approximately 12,000 words. It’s full of mystery, magic, and just a touch of romance, and it will be published as an ebook on July 13, 2016.
42 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 13, 2016
5 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Burgis
81 books1,360 followersI grew up in America, but now I live in Wales with my husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, our two sons, and our sweet (and extremely vocal) tabby cat, Pebbles. I write fantasy rom-coms for adults (most recently Claws and Contrivances and Good Neighbors) and fun MG fantasy adventure novels, too (most recently The Raven Crown duology). My next series will be the adult romantasy trilogy The Queens of Villainy, published by Tor Bramble, starting in 2025 with Wooing the Witch Queen.
To get early sneak peeks at new stories and novels, sign up for my newsletter here: stephanieburgis.com/newsletter.
To join my Dragons' Book Club and get early copies of every ebook that I put out myself (so, all of my novellas, short story ebooks, etc!), check out my Patreon page, where I also published a series of fantasy rom-coms (Good Neighbors) across 2020-2021.
I only rate and review the books that I like, which is why all of my ratings are 4 or 5 stars.
To get early sneak peeks at new stories and novels, sign up for my newsletter here: stephanieburgis.com/newsletter.
To join my Dragons' Book Club and get early copies of every ebook that I put out myself (so, all of my novellas, short story ebooks, etc!), check out my Patreon page, where I also published a series of fantasy rom-coms (Good Neighbors) across 2020-2021.
I only rate and review the books that I like, which is why all of my ratings are 4 or 5 stars.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
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July 13, 2016My new YA Victorian gothic fantasy novelette!
This was a just-for-fun writing project last year to take my mind off the anxiety of waiting to find out whether my new MG novel would sell. (It did, hurrah! And The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart will be coming out in 2017. But now I have this novelette, too, as a nice side-effect of my submission-stress! :) )
And hurrah! It's out today.
You can read an excerpt on my website: http://www.stephanieburgis.com/short-...
This was a just-for-fun writing project last year to take my mind off the anxiety of waiting to find out whether my new MG novel would sell. (It did, hurrah! And The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart will be coming out in 2017. But now I have this novelette, too, as a nice side-effect of my submission-stress! :) )
And hurrah! It's out today.
You can read an excerpt on my website: http://www.stephanieburgis.com/short-...
December 9, 2017
Lovely atmospheric short story from the author of Snowspelled. I’ve liked both so well that I’m very tempted to check out her YA series Kat, Incorrigable.
June 17, 2017
Couldn't decide between 4 and 5 so perhaps 4.5?
Loved this novella - as usual, Burgis excels at character and her prose drew me in immediately and held my interest. It isn't perhaps as clever, complex or surprising as her novella The Art of Deception but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Loved this novella - as usual, Burgis excels at character and her prose drew me in immediately and held my interest. It isn't perhaps as clever, complex or surprising as her novella The Art of Deception but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
February 20, 2017
A quick, delightful, Gothicy romp--if you love strange houses and awesome heroines being summoned to them without clear knowledge of why, you will probably love this little escape. I adored Achilles, too.
August 4, 2020
Plot: Illegitimate girl finally gets called to her father’s residence to start the rest of her life, only to find out that’s not exactly what her father has in mind for her.
Prose/Ease of flow: Effective.
This works really well? The prose is very matter of fact and fluid and the sense of creeping dread and suffocation comes through very well. I also appreciate how the reader gets to learn of the Protagonist’s ethereal beauty- it’s not stated, but implied from the reactions and comments of the people around her.
Worldbuilding/Setting: Fair.
I think the biggest issue is not that there wasn’t enough worldbuilding, it’s how all the wasn’t explored enough in the story itself. There are hints of rules and limitations- I loved the scenes, but there really wasn’t enough time to explore it in detail.
Individual Characters: Effective.
This is a really short story so there isn’t really much room for nuanced characterization. Characters are drawn with very broad strokes and it honestly works very well with the plot.
Relationships & Interactions: Could be better.
Unfortunately, the shortness and the plot means that there really isn’t room for relationships to develop between characters. There’s a budding maybe-romance in here, but I didn’t get to spend enough time with the characters to get invested in it
Verdict: Enjoyable. Wish it had been a bit longer, though.
Prose/Ease of flow: Effective.
This works really well? The prose is very matter of fact and fluid and the sense of creeping dread and suffocation comes through very well. I also appreciate how the reader gets to learn of the Protagonist’s ethereal beauty- it’s not stated, but implied from the reactions and comments of the people around her.
Worldbuilding/Setting: Fair.
I think the biggest issue is not that there wasn’t enough worldbuilding, it’s how all the wasn’t explored enough in the story itself. There are hints of rules and limitations- I loved the scenes, but there really wasn’t enough time to explore it in detail.
Individual Characters: Effective.
This is a really short story so there isn’t really much room for nuanced characterization. Characters are drawn with very broad strokes and it honestly works very well with the plot.
Relationships & Interactions: Could be better.
Unfortunately, the shortness and the plot means that there really isn’t room for relationships to develop between characters. There’s a budding maybe-romance in here, but I didn’t get to spend enough time with the characters to get invested in it
Verdict: Enjoyable. Wish it had been a bit longer, though.
January 1, 2017
3.5 stars
It is a short novella and as such, there are constraints upon the amount of backstory and characterization that can be given to the reader. Working within that limited amount of pagetime, though, I quickly sympathized with Lily's plight. She was as fully realized a character as I could wish for and it was deeply satisfying how she resolved her situation.
I easily solved the "secret", though I felt it was not particularly intended to be difficult to do so.
I do wish we had just a bit more time spent with Achilles before he is sent away, though it speaks highly of his character that however little time was spent with Lily, he was determined to help her once he realized what her despicable father had in store for her. (Which is kept very vague but is ominous enough without explicit details.)
Honestly, I would not mind at all should Burgis sometime set a full-length story in this world!
It is a short novella and as such, there are constraints upon the amount of backstory and characterization that can be given to the reader. Working within that limited amount of pagetime, though, I quickly sympathized with Lily's plight. She was as fully realized a character as I could wish for and it was deeply satisfying how she resolved her situation.
I easily solved the "secret", though I felt it was not particularly intended to be difficult to do so.
I do wish we had just a bit more time spent with Achilles before he is sent away, though it speaks highly of his character that however little time was spent with Lily, he was determined to help her once he realized what her despicable father had in store for her. (Which is kept very vague but is ominous enough without explicit details.)
Honestly, I would not mind at all should Burgis sometime set a full-length story in this world!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2016
Stephanie Burgis’ short story House of Secrets is a standalone YA story written with the same sensibility of
Masks and Shadows
--so historical, with a hint of the supernatural, and a big dose of romance. But it is also very much a Gothic story.
It is hard to talk about the story without giving spoilers and revealing the twist, which I loved so hard. The hints at it were really well-placed, because they could point to several different explanations, including a physical or psychological ailment on the part of Lily. I kept wondering whether this would become a sort of madwoman in the attic story, but it ended so differently and wonderfully at that.
It is hard to talk about the story without giving spoilers and revealing the twist, which I loved so hard. The hints at it were really well-placed, because they could point to several different explanations, including a physical or psychological ailment on the part of Lily. I kept wondering whether this would become a sort of madwoman in the attic story, but it ended so differently and wonderfully at that.
June 19, 2017
Rags-to-Riches
An interesting take on the rags-to-riches storyline now turned on its head. Our heroine, Lily, wants desperately to understand her father's intentions for hiding her away, and then address her to come to his grand town house. Here though she finds a darker existence, compared to the freedom of the green countryside. What she finds is hidden truths about the past and herself. I would love to read more on this world and characters that occupy it!
An interesting take on the rags-to-riches storyline now turned on its head. Our heroine, Lily, wants desperately to understand her father's intentions for hiding her away, and then address her to come to his grand town house. Here though she finds a darker existence, compared to the freedom of the green countryside. What she finds is hidden truths about the past and herself. I would love to read more on this world and characters that occupy it!
May 4, 2017
This one is a Gothic fantasy, with a close focus on the protagonist and plenty of atmosphere. If the story gives the protagonist’s first name, I’ve forgotten it. The story is first person, which suits the Gothic style but means we never see the protagonist's first name. She is generally addressed as Miss Norton, so that’s how I think of her.
Anyway, Miss Norton was raised in an extremely isolated cottage in the country and now that she’s of age, she has just been brought to town, on her father’s orders, by his servant Achilles. Exactly why her father had her raised in this peculiar fashion is not clear. Nor why he’s nailed shut the window in her room, not to mention the heavy curtains so that his daughter can’t even look out . . .
The reader is going to catch on pretty quickly to what is actually going on, in broad outline. Miss Norton is so naïve that of course she has no idea. That makes her an ideal protagonist for a Gothic story. While Achilles is a good male lead and does his best to rescue Miss Norton in the face of significant obstacles, I particularly appreciated how Miss Norton saves herself in the end. That’s something you don’t always see in Gothics, but I personally want both – the hero to strive to save the girl, and the girl to take effective action to save herself. I really enjoyed how everything worked out in this story.
The writing is lovely and the setting highly atmospheric. If you like Gothics but sometimes find them rather slow, this novella may be just the ticket: the whole package tucked into a shorter length.
Anyway, Miss Norton was raised in an extremely isolated cottage in the country and now that she’s of age, she has just been brought to town, on her father’s orders, by his servant Achilles. Exactly why her father had her raised in this peculiar fashion is not clear. Nor why he’s nailed shut the window in her room, not to mention the heavy curtains so that his daughter can’t even look out . . .
The reader is going to catch on pretty quickly to what is actually going on, in broad outline. Miss Norton is so naïve that of course she has no idea. That makes her an ideal protagonist for a Gothic story. While Achilles is a good male lead and does his best to rescue Miss Norton in the face of significant obstacles, I particularly appreciated how Miss Norton saves herself in the end. That’s something you don’t always see in Gothics, but I personally want both – the hero to strive to save the girl, and the girl to take effective action to save herself. I really enjoyed how everything worked out in this story.
The writing is lovely and the setting highly atmospheric. If you like Gothics but sometimes find them rather slow, this novella may be just the ticket: the whole package tucked into a shorter length.
February 20, 2022
3.5 stars
July 2, 2022
A great, easy to read tale. Would definitely recommend.
March 28, 2025
I was really drawn into the mystery of this story. Even though it was short, I feel it was satisfying.
October 11, 2016
Miss Lily Norton is the illegitimate child of a gentleman. As such she is shunned by most all classes of society. Luckily her father still sends money for her care and has promised to send for her when she comes of age. Days before her 17th birthday, he does just that, but none of her visit to her father's house is as expected. There are no visitors or outings, but even more strange she's not even allowed to go outside or see out the windows.
February 23, 2018
House of Secrets was a very atmospheric Gothic short story set in a historical era with a dose of supernatural and subtle romance. The tale contained many fun elements: lovely writing with a highly atmospheric setting, a strong albeit naive heroine with mystical origins, a sweet love interest, a gothic house, and plenty of emotion and mystery. Clues were revealed bit by bit in carefully-placed breadcrumbs throughout the story, all escalating to a twist ending; although I guessed this particular twist, it didn't hinder my overall enjoyment. Although House of Secrets is a short story and could have been developed into something a bit longer, it was still a satisfying and enjoyable read.
June 15, 2016
I blurbed this, very nice romantic Gothic read (it's around 12,000 words so a perfect length for a short and yet immersive read).
Here's my blurb: "An atmospheric tale of family, dark magic, and the thirst of one girl to determine her own destiny."
Here's my blurb: "An atmospheric tale of family, dark magic, and the thirst of one girl to determine her own destiny."
September 18, 2016
Lovely writing and idea, but just a snippet of something.
January 23, 2020
This story built a palpable sense of dread as the heroine's situation became more dire...which made the ending even better. Despite being short, it felt complete and satisfying.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews