The Hundred-Year House

Nestled in the storied Laurelfield estate, 'The Hundred-Year House' unravels the intricate, generational secrets of the Devohr family through a dazzlingly original narrative structure. Marxist literary scholar Zee Devohr, along with her mother Gracie and stepfather Bruce, inhabits the estate, a place haunted by the mysterious death of Zee's great-grandmother, Violet. Zee's unemployed academic husband, Doug, hopes to revive his career by writing a biography of poet Edwin Parfitt, a former resident of the Laurelfield Arts Colony (1920s-1950s) which once occupied the house. Doug's quest for colony records, decaying in the attic, is met with fierce resistance from Gracie, hinting at deeply buried truths. As Makkai masterfully unfolds the story in reverse chronological order, the reader is led on a literary scavenger hunt, peeling back layers of deception and hidden history. This ambitious novel promises to upend everything Doug and Zee believe about her family, revealing unexpected twists about fate, identity, and the enduring power of secrets within a century-old home.