***49TH SHELF UTTERLY FANTASTIC BOOK FOR FALL***

***NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS WINNER, SUSPENSE***

***NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS FINALIST, PARANORMAL***

Sissy and Ava Hush are estranged, middle-aged sisters with little in common beyond their upbringing in a peculiar manor in downtown St. John’s. With both parents now dead, the siblings must decide what to do with the old house they’ve inherited. Despite their individual loneliness, neither is willing to change or cede to the other’s intentions. As the sisters discover the house’s dark secrets, the spirits of the past awaken, and strange events envelop them. The Hush sisters must either face these sinister forces together or be forever ripped apart.

In The Hush Sisters, Gerard Collins weaves psychological suspense with elements of the fantastic to craft a contemporary urban gothic that will keep readers spellbound until the novel whispers its startling secrets.

Gerard Collins’ first book, the short story collection Moonlight Sketches won the 2012 NL Book Award and his first novel, Finton Moon, has already won the Percy Janes First Novel Award. He’s won several arts and letters awards, been shortlisted for the Cuffer Prize, published in Hard Ol’ Spot, Zeugma and various other anthologies. He has been a guest speaker at numerous literary festivals and taught workshops in writing for youth. He has a Ph.D. in English and teaches at Memorial University.

Gerard Collins' profile page

• Winner, A 49th Shelf Utterly Fantastic Book for Fall
• Winner, Next Generation INDIE Book Award, Suspense
• Short-listed, Next Generation INDIE Book Award, Paranormal

“ A wonderfully crafted, dark gothic mystery!... Collins completely sucked me in with his suspenseful prose and wonderful character development. This was hard to put down and I could have easily read it in one sitting.”

Bookalong

“…Spectral goings-on unfold against a detailed setting of a contemporary St. John’s, characters breakfasting at downtown diners and shopping at Fred’s Records. But even as the sisters steer through quotidian issues of real estate and relationships, the house is filling with things that go bump, or sing ‘Frère Jacques,’ in the night… Novelist Gerard Collins conveys the tensions, emotions, and complications through to the last line.”

The Telegram

“Getting lost in a book is always a joy, but falling into The Hush Sisters was a truly wonderful escape in a year like 2020. The fluctuating tension and love between Sissy and Ava Hush gives a real-world grounding to the eerie memories of their childhood and the unnerving presences lingering in their home. With each new ghost, creepy space and heated argument, I became more invested in the dark drama. What did Ava want Sissy to know? What happened between Sissy and her husband? From where (or is it whom) did the house get its aura? The Hush Sisters snagged me early on and had me gripped until the final pages.”

Atlantic Books Today

“Many modern so-called gothic novels don't focus heavily on character development, and I'm glad to say Gerard Collins went the opposite route and gave us two fleshed-out characters. The descriptions are exceptionally detailed, which should be mandatory in every gothic tale… Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Hush Sisters. It's a well-written haunting tale with intriguing characters and a spine-chilling setting.”

Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

“Gerard Collins has played quite a trick with his new novel, The Hush Sisters. By luring the reader into his ghost riddled family mansion, he has left us open and unsuspecting of the pain and heartbreak that we live with these characters, and the histories that intertwine in these dark halls and creaking attics, could be our own… There is more at work here than just the Gothic, and the reader is rewarded with a story that will surprise and frighten them, but also move them as they walk through this dark, beside the Sisters Hush.”

The East

"There be monsters in this mash-up, a sui generis portrait of trauma survivors and the lingering impact of family violence in adult siblings."

The Fiddlehead