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I Wanted To Write A Ghost Story
The House on Chambers Road is a haunting novel about a grieving widow drawn to a mysterious colonial house where the past refuses to stay buried and grief takes spectral form. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
First of all, I wanted to write a ghost story. But not one that depended on jump scares and malevolence. I wanted it to be about the characters and their journeys. And since I love history, the story had to feature some element of the past that is connected to the present, that is still alive. Old houses fill that role nicely. The old house in the story is very much influenced by Historic Waynesborough, an 18th-century property where I’m a tour guide. Every time I walk through the door there, the past washes in around me. It feels close and immediate.
How did you approach balancing historical accuracy with supernatural elements in the 18th-century timeline?
I had already done a lot of research for my last book, Clara in a Time of War, set during the Revolutionary War, so I had lots of good material from that regarding time, place and culture. And having grown up just outside of Philadelphia, I was steeped in history, especially the 18th century. Also, I love old objects and wanted to incorporate them into the story. But I wanted them to have their own histories and to illuminate character and emotion. They weren’t to be just old things. They had to have mystery to them, to have meaning to the people who owned them, and to echo through time, in fact travel through time.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Love, loss, and grief, for sure. And guilt. It’s the part of loss that rarely gets talked about. It feels so uncomfortable. In this story the element of guilt is heightened for both main characters. And with that goes a desire for redemption. How do we find a way to forgive ourselves and move on? Navigating relationships, with all their complicated facets, was also a theme. Marriages and friendships form the crux of the characters’ lives, and just as with an old house or object, they have histories. The good, the difficult, and everything in between.
What was the most challenging scene for you to write?
The scenes having to do with the haunting were challenging. I didn’t want to overdo them. They needed to be measured, to build one upon the other, and to have an element of fear but not too much too soon. The other difficult scene was Libby’s final realization of what happened in the house and how it tied into her own experience. How would she react in a way appropriate to the moment and circumstance? It’s an epiphany, and a vital one. How would she process it?
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C.J. McGroarty blends the gothic touches of a good ghost story with the rich, evocative details of historical fiction in this tale of love, loss, and redemption.
Interior designer Libby Casey desperately wants to move on from her grief and the painful secret that has plagued her since her husband’s death. When she buys an 18th-century house on the outskirts of town that she feels inexplicably drawn to, she thinks she has a chance to do just that.
But soon after moving in, she finds she’s not alone. An ominous voice whispers in the night, mysterious objects appear and disappear, and odd scents waft from the old kitchen garden.
Looking for answers, she digs into the history of the estate and the man who built it, Hugh Peter Jones. Like Libby, Hugh harbored his own troubling secret. But will this secret hold the key to banishing her ghost for good? And will Libby finally find the peace she desires?
The House on Chambers Road: A Ghost Story
C.J. McGroarty’s The House on Chambers Road is a haunting and richly layered novel that weaves historical fiction, supernatural mystery, and emotional healing into a single narrative. It’s the story of Libby Casey, a grieving widow who stumbles across a colonial-era Georgian house that seems to call to her in unexplainable ways. As she peels back the layers of the house’s past, she also confronts the secret weight of her own guilt and sorrow, both of which refuse to stay buried. The novel dances back and forth in time, from present-day Pennsylvania to 18th-century colonial life, slowly knitting together the lives of those long gone with the living.
Reading this book felt like stepping into a fog and watching ghosts take shape—slowly, deliberately, with elegance and dread in equal measure. McGroarty’s writing is lush without being showy. Her descriptions pull you in gently and don’t let go. I loved the way the house became almost a character of its own, whispering through the walls, sighing through the floorboards. There’s something beautiful and sad about the way McGroarty captures grief—how it lingers in quiet rooms and unfinished conversations. Libby felt real to me in a way that made her struggles hit close to home. Her grief isn’t tidy. It’s jagged and painful, and that’s what makes her story compelling.
Some scenes stretched a beat too long, and I found myself wanting the plot to move faster, especially during moments of introspection. But then McGroarty would reel me back in with a sudden, eerie detail—a glove that doesn’t belong, a name whispered in the night, a dream that bleeds into memory. These small, chilling touches reminded me why I was hooked in the first place. The historical chapters, in particular, were vivid and emotionally resonant. Hugh and Miranda’s story added a quiet gravity, grounding the supernatural in something relatable.
The House on Chambers Road is a gentle, unsettling, and beautifully told story about memory, loss, and the way the past lingers just beneath the surface of the present. It’s perfect for readers who enjoy ghost stories with depth, character-driven fiction, or novels that explore the thin veil between history and now. If you’ve ever loved a house so much it felt like it loved you back, this book is for you.
Pages: 286 | ISBN: 1956615490
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