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Ratings: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Genre: Psychological Horror / Supernatural Fiction / Gothic Fiction

Book Review:
Joanna Briscoe's ''Touched'' is a haunting and sensuously hypnotic novel that blurs the lines between reality and madness. Rowena Crale and her family leave London for a quiet life in the English countryside, hoping to restore a charming old cottage. But the house has other plans. It resists their efforts at every turn—walls weep damp, ceilings buckle, and from empty rooms come whispers and voices. As Rowena struggles to hold her family together, she begins to unravel, and then her daughters start to disappear. Briscoe masterfully builds an atmosphere of creeping dread, exploring the fragility of motherhood, the weight of domestic expectations, and the possibility that the house itself is alive with malevolent intent. As the Observer raves, this is ''grippingly pleasurable... sensuously hypnotic.'' A perfect read for fans of psychological horror and gothic fiction.