Stormy Nights at Seventh House (Hardback)

Lady Amphelise Vexx has been running one of Hell’s manors for a few centuries now. She’s tired, she’s out of patience, and she’s about to have the busiest season ever.

Phel, as she’s known to what remains of her friends, holds the dark fort at Hell’s Seventh Manor — soul-storms, recalcitrant demons, and endless complaints from the damned and the living alike. It’s a lot for anyone to carry alone, jazz and cocktails and Jessop’s demonic cooking notwithstanding, and Phel is running on fumes.

Then comes the influx: visitors who are damned, helpers who are condemned, and sightseers who are simply fools — more activity than Seventh House has seen in generations, and not the kind Phel wanted. The delicate, precarious life she’s built threatens to come apart at the seams entirely.

But maybe — against every expectation — there’s something worth finding in all this chaos. Even in the depths of Hell, joy has a way of turning up where you least expect it.

The Chronicles of Vexx concludes in a mosaic of improbable sunshine and implausible joy — oddly cosy, drily amusing, and quietly, deeply hopeful.