A novel set in the Phillippines in the 1980s has an eerily resonant backdrop to today in Daphne Fama’s emotionally charged horror debut, The House of Monstrous Women. The novel centers on a young woman named Josephine, whose parents died during the People Power Revolution. Her brother isn’t around so Josephine is holding down what remains of the family home. She is invited by an Hiraya, an old friend to move into Ranoco House, Hiraya’s family home. That Hiraya’s family is rumored to practice witchcraft doesn’t really dissuade Josephine as Josephine sees this opportunity as a cure to her growing loneliness. However, when Josephine’s brother Alejandro returns from his travels, he tries to assume the power of the family, tries to force Josephine into a marriage she doesn’t want. This only pushes her further into her decision to move in with Hiraya.
A young woman is drawn into a dangerous game after being invited to the mazelike home of her childhood friend, a rumored witch, in this gothic horror set in 1986 Philippines.
In this game, there’s one rule: survive.
Orphaned after her father’s political campaign ended in tragedy, Josephine is alone taking care of the family home while her older brother is off in Manila, where revolution brews. But an unexpected invitation from her childhood friend Hiraya to her house offers an escape. . . .
Why don’t you come visit, and we can play games like we used to?
If Josephine wins, she’ll get whatever her heart desires. Her brother is invited, too, and it’s time they had a talk. Josephine’s heard the dark whispers: Hiraya is a witch and her family spits curses. But still, she’s just desperate enough to seize this chance to change her destiny.
Except the Ranoco house is strange, labyrinthine, and dangerously close to a treacherous sea. A sickly-sweet smell clings to the dimly lit walls, and veiled eyes follow Josephine through endless connecting rooms. The air is tense with secrets, and as the game continues it’s clear Josephine doesn’t have the whole truth.
To save herself, she will have to play to win. But in this house, victory is earned with blood.
A lush new voice in horror arises in this riveting gothic set against the upheaval of 1986 Philippines and the People Power Revolution.
Hiraya’s home is not your standard home, though. The home is near the sea and has many winding hallways and strange rooms. It is a mansion in the truest sense with character…rather, several elements of character throughout. Some rooms are poorly lit, some give of specific scents. Some rooms may be haunted with figures that are there one moment and gone the next. Hiraya and her family encourage Josephine to participate in their game, very much like Hide and Seek but with very real stakes that will grant the winner a wish of their great desire.
Fama sets the tone and establishes her characters very well to get the foundation of the story solidly built. Josephine is an empathetic character whose plight has great emotional weight, dealing with the tragedy of losing her parents coupled with her controlling brother makes it easy to understand why she’d want to be in a place that initially feels more welcoming. The tone shifts to more eeriness as Josephine becomes more entranced with the Ranoco family home.
As I mentioned, the Ranoco home is definitely a character in and of itself and lends the novel a true gothic feel. A large home with its own unique geography with a haunted, supernatural and nature is very inviting and evocative despite how sinister the mansion may actually be. That gothic feel is a blanket over the family, too. Josephine and her brother are haunted before they even connect with the gothic manor.
I also have to note how expertly Fama wove in the tense political situation into the narrative. The characters expressed fear and doubt about the future of their nation with Marcos’s iron-clad grip on the nation. The characters go through their interactions with each other, but news reports in the background are ever present, lending an even more tense feel to the story. Given the political climate in the US, I found the parallels to Fama’s depiction of Marcos’s rule to today pretty scary.
Fama’s prose is powerfully inviting, too. The novel is steeped in Filipino myths and folk, which I found equally inviting. In college, in my dorms and off-campus housing, I had some dorm and house mates who were Filipino so I was perhaps a little more drawn to the narrative. Some of the boogeyman stories they shared came back to me as I was reading the novel. But that inviting nature of the myths and folk grew darker as the Josephine spent more time in the Ranoco home, with the creep factor getting … well, creepier.
Perhaps the most impressive element of The House of Monstrous Women is that it is indeed Fama’s debut novel. It is remarkably accomplished in prose and narrative structure and has some great character work.
This is a novel worth reading, especially as we get closer to spooky season* and a writer worth noting and whose work is worth keeping an eye on in the future.
Recommended
© 2025 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | August 2025 | Berkley Publishing
https://daphnefama.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Berkley
