This House Will Feed - Maria Tureaud - ★★.¾

AUTHOR: Maria Tureaud

GENRE: Historical Horror

PUBLICATION DATE: January 27, 2026

RATING: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A historical Gothic paranormal mystery set during the Irish potato famine. A lead character who’s compelling as well as naïve. Slow-paced plot. More horrifying in its historical content than in its supernatural inclusions. Fantastical content based slightly in Irish mythology, which might get confusing to outsiders. Some details left vague till the end. Recommended but with caution.

Plot Preview:

1848. Ireland. Twenty-two-year-old Maggie once had a large happy family, but she is now all alone in the world, having lost all her loved ones to the potato famine. So when an eccentric wealthy lady approaches her with a strange proposal - to pose as her daughter Wilhelmina and convince solicitors to release her inheritance in exchange for a house and land after the completion of the task, Maggie sees it as the best chance of defeating her destiny and honouring the memory of her late family. But Lady Catherine's house begins to wake up strange memories from Maggie's past. When the villagers also comment about ghostly activities at the house, Maggie wonders if the deal she made us worth the sacrifice demanded of her.

The story comes to us in Maggie's first-person POV over two timelines - the present and the past.

Bookish Yays:

🍀 The author's heartfelt note addressed to Irish readers at the start and the detailed historical note at the end. I was surprised to see real-life influences even in the human characters.

🍀 The quotes at the start of every chapter, taken from factual British and Irish sources. A stark reminder of how brutal the famine was and how disdainful the Brits were towards the Irish.

🍀 The horrifying depiction of the famine. Calling it just an ‘Irish Potato Famine’ somehow diminishes the dreariness of the historical reality.

🍀 The extensive and stark depiction of the historical feelings of antipathy and mistrust between the Irish and the English and the horrendous apathy of the latter towards the former.

🍀 The regular use of Gaelic words and a detailed glossary for meanings at the end.

Bookish Okays:

🏠 Maggie. Her personality isn't what is typical in this genre, so her strength and her moral murkiness truly set her apart. At the same time, she is also naïve and often takes illogical decisions.

🏠 The dual timeline. Without going into spoilers, I can only say that the chronological nature of the reveals doesn’t make sense given the reason provided for the flashbacks. (Keep an eye out for the month-year at the start of every chapter; it’s important.)

🏠 The greyness of every single character, which makes it tough to slot them neatly into moral compartments. I enjoyed this realistic lack of an ethical border, but didn’t like how their motives often made no sense.

🏠 The inclusion of certain elements from Irish mythology. Interesting but also a little confusing for me at times due to my lack of familiarity with it.

🏠 The writing. Vivid and atmospheric in multiple ways, but also tedious and overwritten. Some of the words are highly overused. Words like ‘naught’ and ‘mayhap’ might be historically accurate, but seeing them pop up repetitively gets distracting.

🏠 The half-chapter that comes from a different character’s first-person perspective. The sudden shift is jarring, especially as the character’s voice doesn’t even sound different. Then, just as we begin to settle into the narrative, it goes back to Maggie. I get why it was important to use the first-person for this bit, but I wish the character’s voice had been more distinct in tone.

Bookish Nays:

🥔 The house. With such a title and genre, I was hoping the word "feed" would be a pun. The cover art also made me expect a more creepy Gothic paranormal. However, the house is barely utilised to its potential.

🥔 Paranormal, but not paranormal horror. The spookiness is more in the human famine-related actions than in the occurrences at the house.

🥔 The mysterious events. Intriguing but also mostly hazy. Many things aren’t clarified even up to the end. I’d have appreciated more details pertaining to “Wilhelmina” and the other females in the story. Getting merely the whats without the hows and the whys is not always satisfying.

🥔 The old journal, which is so relevant to the plot and yet is not even read in one shot, pops up only at random, and is forgotten after the midpoint. It felt like a convenient way of providing some backstory for one character without going into important details such as motives.

🥔 The pacing – so very slow moving. This is worsened by the multitude of secrets. One particular secret is kept too long and after its reveal, I didn’t even understand why it was a secret!

Overall, while the book delivered tremendous chills in its portrayal of the famine, the actual paranormal content felt somewhat lacking. I like books that make me wonder what I would have done in the character’s situation. In this novel, I often found myself disagreeing with a character’s decisions/actions and yet curious about the outcome of their deeds. At the same time, the story somehow never grabbed me entirely; I never felt like picking it up after keeping it aside. The vagueness of the character motivations ensured my disconnect.

Regardless, this might be a good option for readers who go in with the right expectations. This book doesn’t work that well as a paranormal horror despite the presence of paranormal elements. It might deliver better as a dark historical fantasy with elements of human-created horror.

2.75 stars. (I’d have gone higher had I received more clarity on the motives of some characters.)

My thanks to Kensington Books for providing the DRC of “This House Will Feed” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.