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The Haunting of Velkwood

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The Haunting of Velkwood

By: Gwendolyn Kiste
Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
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About this listen

 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. Gothic Horror Scary Survival Paranormal
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this was one worst books I've listened to and I so nearly gave up, maybe the narrators monotone performance sounding like a gas leak didn't help, maybe it's just me but didn't find it creepy at all didn't find any of characters likeable or interesting, I get it's a metaphor for childhood trauma and loss of innocents but tbh halfway through I really didn't care and I just wanted over

ponderous

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This story captured from the get-go. The narrator was perfect and brought Talitha to life. The writing was beautiful and the whole thing was haunting. I will be thinking about this one for a long while

Heartbreaking and creepy

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