Cauchemar

An eerie, otherworldly unease permeates Grigorescu's debut novel. From the moment 20-year-old Hannah discovers the body of Mae, her adoptive mother, her life shifts into a spirit realm from which Mae had long tried to shield her. Their secluded house on the marsh has been about separation and safety%E2%80%94separation from her birth mother, Christobelle, whose dealings with the dead are heavily feared and hated in town, and safety from those who would hurt Hannah based on the harm they believe Christobelle has done to their families. When Hannah meets Callum, a boat captain and musician, she finds a comfort and companionship that she sorely lacked, but as they grow closer and Hannah becomes pregnant, inexplicable events constantly occur around them. The cast of characters (whose trustworthiness the reader and Hannah should constantly question), the Louisiana setting, the unnatural goings-on in the marsh, and black magic's domineering presence all feed the novel's Southern gothic nature. Grigorescu grabs readers with a sense of foreboding at the start and builds intense tension as she leads them into a haunting place where the lines between dream and reality, living and dead, blur and hypnotize. Agent: Sam Hiyate, the Rights Factory. (Mar.)