Slade House by David Mitchell

Title: Slade House

Author: David Mitchell

Pages: 238

Finished: August 29, 2017

First Sentence: Whatever Mum's saying's drowned out by the grimy roar of the bus pulling away, revealing a pub called The Fox and Hounds.

Summary: Every nine years, someone finds a small, black iron door in the wall of Slade Alley. When they open it, they find themselves in the backyard of Slade House, a house too large to fit in the space provided. They find themselves in a place that absolutely fits with what they're looking for. Friendship. Companionship. Answers to questions. Even when things start to seem wrong, they don't leave. Every nine years, someone goes into Slade House and never comes out. Every nine years.

Thoughts: The only other Mitchell book I've read is Cloud Atlas, a book I really enjoyed. I picked this one up, concerned at the fact that it was a "haunted house" story, but found myself loving it. I had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed how each person's story was written so differently, and I enjoyed how we found out more about what was happening with each subsequent visit to Slade House. Some words in the book were familiar from Cloud Atlas. When I looked it up, I discovered that, while each of his novels stands alone, Mitchell does view his novels as one great novel. So now I'm thinking about starting a new reading project in the future to read his books in publication order. Also, I was pleased that, for a haunted house story, this didn't really freak me out. I could read it at night and not have trouble sleeping.

Read for Personal Reading Challenges - book by browsing. Found re-browsing the Ms after putting the McKinley down.