The Uncanny House & The Forsaken House at Misty Vale ~ Mary L. Pendered

Nezu Press is bringing out two books in August, both by Mary L. Pendered. A well-known author during her lifetime, she has been almost forgotten since her death, and her books are extremely difficult to get hold of. One of our new titles, The Forsaken House at Misty Vale, is so rare that you're unlikely to ever see a copy of the first edition in the wild.

The Uncanny House was first published in 1927, and The Forsaken House at Misty Vale came out in 1932. Neither of these novels has been republished since its first publication. Please note that both of the new Nezu Press editions contain the same 20-page biographical essay by me: ‘Mary L. Pendered: Author, Suffragist, Pacifist, and Thoroughly Good Woman’.

The Uncanny House

Old Mr Barker was a curmudgeon who underfed his dogs to make them vicious and kept his low-paid staff loyal with promises of legacies that never materialised. Following his death, his home is sold at auction for an absurdly cheap price to Peggy and Percy Dacre. But when the young couple move into their new home with their four children, Peggy soon discovers that The Beeches—commonly referred to as ‘Hell Corner’ by the locals—is already occupied.

Published: 20 August 2024.
978-1-917113-01-4.
Hardback with dust jacket, 228 pages.
Click here to buy from Nezu Press.

The Forsaken House at Misty Vale

Celia Grey, a fifty-year-old, unmarried writer who has longed for a home of her own for decades, thinks all her prayers have been answered when she inherits her uncle’s house. But Clew Lodge is a property with an uncanny reputation. It is a grim and daunting place, desolate and derelict, having been left to the forces of corruption since Uncle Jerrold abandoned it a decade prior to his death—because he ‘could not stand the whispering’.

Published: 20 August 2024.
978-1-917113-02-1.
Hardback with dust jacket, 306 pages.
Click here to buy from Nezu Press.

Both books will be available from the usual online retailers soon. They are available to pre-order from the Nezu Press website right now (see links above).