Winner of the 2025 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel
Finalist for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Award
From Bram Stoker Award–winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes an “emotionally devastating, character driven ghost story” (CrimeReads) about three childhood friends who miraculously survive the night everyone in their suburban hometown turned to ghosts—perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.
The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared behind a near-impenetrable veil that only three survivors could enter—and only one has in the past twenty years, until now.
Talitha Velkwood has avoided anything to do with the tragedy that took her mother and eight-year-old sister, drifting from one job to another, never settling anywhere or with anyone, feeling as trapped by her past as if she was still there in the small town she so desperately wanted to escape from. When a new researcher tracks her down and offers to pay her to come back to enter the vicinity, Talitha claims she’s just doing it for the money. Of all the crackpot theories over the years, no one has discovered what happened the night Talitha, her estranged, former best friend Brett, and Grace, escaped their homes twenty years ago. Will she finally get the answers she’s been looking for all these years, or is this just another dead end?
Award-winning author Gwendolyn Kiste has created an “eerie and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) suburban ghost story about a small town that trapped three young women who must confront the past if they’re going to have a future.
Industry Reviews
“Atmospheric and riveting, Kiste’s novel exposes the horror of suburban malaise and reminds readers that young women, if given the chance, are powerful enough to save the world.” -Library Journal
“[A]n emotionally devastating, character driven ghost story, that feels like Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation had a love-child with Ai Jiang’s Ling Hun. It’s packed full of suburban malaise, three-dimensional characters, and most interestingly, features a haunted street, known as the 'Velkwood Vicinity.'” -CrimeReads
“Kiste wowed me with her psychedelic take on classic gothic heroines, Reluctant Immortals, and her new novel is just as eloquent in defending women’s rights to determine their own fate (and follow their own hearts)…Eerie and evocative!” -Kirkus
“Kiste fights for friendship and love to pull her characters through.” -Men's Health
“A powerful saga of returning home and solving ghostly, haunting events emerges which injects the idea of originality back into the ghost story genre, making The Haunting of Velkwood a top pick for ghost story enthusiasts looking for something refreshingly, eerily original.” -MidWest Book Review
