A House Without Windows by Stevie Turner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Dr. Beth Nichols, recently engaged to Liam Darrah and having just learned she is pregnant, is snatched out of her life and world by a former patient named Edwin Evans. For the next ten years the unspeakable takes place on a daily basis in the basement dungeon to which her captor has banished the helpless woman. After Beth gives birth, she must find a way to keep her young daughter safe from the monster who believes the child is his. But when Beth becomes pregnant again, her life—and that of her daughter—is about to change in ways even she couldn’t have seen coming.

There’s a sadness running through the narrative voice of 9-year-old Amy, the child born into captivity. She’s never seen a real bird or the sea or the sun and moon. Young Amy has never set foot outside of the basement cell into which she was born. This is the only life the child has ever known, sharing that tiny scrap of space with her mother.

The story subject is one familiar to anybody following the news: Three girls held captive in a house of horrors in Cleveland, Ohio; young Jaycee Dugard stolen away from family and friends, abused for eighteen years by a madman; Elizabeth Smart, taken from her own bedroom in the middle of the night, a prisoner for nine months. There are plenty of others, with names we’ve heard and many more we’ll never know.

In A House Without Windows, author Stevie Turner has put forth a solid read filled with tight prose, vivid descriptions, and realistic narrative voices. The story, told by multiple POV characters, comes together via thoughts, memories, letters, and diary entries. I found it to be a compelling story that held my attention all the way through. The only downside: Readers don’t really get a look inside of Edwin Evan’s head. I would have loved to see what this man was thinking, what made him tick, what made him choose such a dark path to travel upon. But still, this is a book that I can recommend to anybody who enjoys the spirit of indie authored stories.




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