Book Spotlight | Verushka by Jan Stinchcomb

Today the spotlight is on Verushka by Jan Stinchcomb!

This folk horror has been described as a “magical, thrilling exploration of mothers and monsters”, perfect for fans of twisted, dark fairy tales.

To give you a taste, I’m sharing the synopsis and excerpt from the book. Thank you to TNBBC Publicity for this exclusive excerpt!

Genre: Horror
Pages: 237
Publication Date: 7 July 2023
Author: Jan Stinchcomb
Publisher: Journalstone

Synopsis

Someone is stalking Devon Woodward. They’ve been there all along, since before she was born, going back to her grandmother’s time. Waiting for her. Watching. And the people who should be able to help, her own parents, are making everything worse.

Devon is right to be afraid. Verushka, both victim and villain, is a half-human witch from the other side of the world. She will do anything to get what she needs from the Woodward family, but she may have finally met her match in young Devon. Will family conflict sabotage Devon’s efforts to escape and put her in even greater danger?

In this multi-perspective novel that is part fairy tale and part horror story, a young girl fights to uncover the truth and save her own life.

Excerpt

Devon has Bear and Henry. The three of them sit at the little plastic table with the matching benches Daddy’s work friend gave them. They’re using the fancy tea set her Grandma Carol sent. Normally her mother wouldn’t let her take porcelain dishes outside but everything has changed since the Horrible Night. Besides, she and Bear are careful with nice things.

It’s the rabbit she has to watch out for.

He is not bad. He is impulsive, always running away when something captures his attention. Henry is fast, the fastest animal Devon has ever seen. Ever since they moved to the chalet, Devon can barely keep track of him. She’ll turn her head and he’s gone. She has had to search all over the chalet and the yard for him. Once she found him stuck to a thorny bush along the picket fence. Once he was in the laundry basket. And once he was in her bed, waiting for her.

She can’t tell her mother about this. Mommy has a problem with Henry. She hasn’t trusted him since the Horrible Night.

Henry did not start the fire at her old home. Daddy explained it was a problem with the neighbors’ refrigerator. An electrical malfunction, the firemen said. Still, Henry must have got out first, leaving everyone else behind, and then he ran all the way to the chalet. His fur is still perfect. He does not smell like smoke. When Devon presses her little nose into his fur, when he lets her, he smells like flowers and some other musky scent she knows comes from the wild.

She has no idea where Henry goes at night. Often, in the morning, he is missing from her bed, even though she goes to sleep every night with one arm around each of her friends.

Mommy’s not happy. Devon thinks it’s because she lost all her pretty clothes on the Horrible Night, but when they went to the mall, Mommy didn’t want to try on anything.

There he goes! Henry has left the tea party and is running up the hill. He knows they’re not supposed to go past the picket fence. Devon and Bear look at each other in alarm. Bear is so sweet, so smart. He always does the right thing. He doesn’t need to say a word. Devon knows he would tell her to stay in the yard. First she shouts after Henry. Then she stands on top of the table (not allowed) to see how far he goes, but he is already disappearing into the woods. Devon looks back at the chalet. She can’t see her mother in any of the windows. She’s probably working in the upstairs room.

For a second Devon considers calling out to her mother or running into the house and up the always creaking stairs. She could ask for help and then they would be a team like they used to be, but something has changed between them, and Devon must now take the first step of what will become a long journey. She will not ask for what she needs because it is easier this way. It is easier for her whole family if she doesn’t call out to her mother.

Devon cannot possibly let Henry go into the woods by himself. He is too little. He is not a real rabbit and does not have a true sense of the woods. Devon’s reasons for protecting Henry are somewhat selfish, for she does not want to lose one more precious thing. It is easy to climb over the picket fence although she feels the old wood cracking under her weight. The soil on the other side of the fence is hard, baked by the California sun. She sees Bear standing on the picnic table, waving his arms in the air.

“You stay there. I will be right back,” Devon says. Then she turns and begins the long walk up the hill. She never looks back.

She is not afraid of the woods. She is afraid of her mother.

By the time she is high enough up the hill to see the view of the ocean, Devon is panting. The path ends and she does not know what to do, but then there is Henry, standing and waiting for her. “You come back here right now,” she says in her mother’s voice.

All at once the Lady is there. This is the first time Devon sees her.

The Lady is tall and thin with long white hair that covers her body like a shroud. Devon cannot see her face. She must be cautious and quiet. It’s like the time her family saw a deer when they were hiking. If anything, the deer was afraid, and if they weren’t careful, the animal would run away. Devon knows she is being bad. She is on the wrong side of the fence and the Lady is a stranger. At the same time, she knows the Lady is not like anyone else, not a real person, and so maybe the household rules don’t apply.

Devon doesn’t know what the Lady will do to Henry, and in any case, she doesn’t know if Henry will be able to find his way home.

She follows them up the hill, but it’s like watching herself in a dream or a movie, where she is the little girl in the foreground. She wants so badly to see the Lady’s face. Henry is ahead of her, of course. His fur is now white, the same color as the Lady’s hair.

Devon cannot let them get away from her.

The climb further up the hill is somehow effortless. Her legs are light yet strong. She knows if she turns her head she could gaze at the ocean. That is her old life, near the beach in the city, but if she turns to look at it now, this new world might disappear. The Lady and Henry veer to the left, leaving what remains of the path, and are soon under the branches of scraggly old oaks. Devon has to walk quickly because Henry is moving so fast that she occasionally loses track of him. During those moments when he disappears entirely, Devon’s heart hurts. It’s a chilling reminder that she has no idea where she is. If Henry abandons her, she will become that terrible yet familiar thing from all the stories: a lost child.

She has a flash of Bear, his eyes huge with concern, standing and waiting on the plastic picnic table.

All at once the heat of the day surrounds her. It’s summer, so almost everything on the hill has turned brown, but Devon finds a single patch of earth that is still alive, still green. And rising from this patch is a hut.

The hut looks like it is growing out of the refreshingly green grass. It is made of reddish wood and has a pointed roof, and there is a splash of blue flowers in bloom around its base. Ivy trails up one side. Devon sees the Lady disappear around the left side of the hut to what must be the front door. There are no doors or windows visible from where Devon is standing.

Henry is busy in the blue flowers. Now he looks like a real bunny, complete with powerful haunches and a twitching nose. Still, Devon knows this is her Henry. He’s going to be really fast now, faster than ever. To her surprise he turns his head and looks right at her with one brown eye. There is a sharp creak as the door of the hut opens, and Henry’s left ear tilts, like a little antenna, to take it in. His whole body stiffens and Devon knows she is about to lose him. She will both lose and be lost.

What happens next is another great shock in her little life. Henry launches himself into her chest and knocks her to the ground, and then he is in her arms, and back to being her soft stuffed animal.

She hears––no, feels––footsteps approaching.

Like a superhero from a cartoon Devon rises and turns in the same motion. It is crucial that she not see the Lady’s face. She knows this now. She runs as fast as she ever has, remembering where to turn, and finds her way back. She is on the path to the chalet, still running, carrying Henry. His plush fur has returned to its usual color.

Talk about close. Talk about lucky. Devon’s feet touch the soil of the yard just as her mother comes out the back door. Devon is really panting now. She knows she may have to lie. She is ready for it. Bear, facing the chalet with a teacup balanced on one knee, is prepared to help her. Devon takes her position at the table, but then things get even stranger.

Her mother says nothing. She is not even paying attention to her. Her mind is somewhere else entirely.

Lying in bed that night, Devon senses a great change. She can feel Henry’s heart pounding in the darkness. Bear growls in a low, plaintive tone. Devon knows there is no way she can keep Henry away from the hut on the hill. He wants those flowers.

Maybe Bear can go with them next time.

Cover photo by Simon Berger