We chat with author Melissa Larsen about The Lost House, which is a mesmerising story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.
Hi, Melissa! Welcome back! How have the past three and a bit years since we last spoke for your debut?
So nice to be back! The past three years have been, in a word, transformative. After publishing my debut, I worried I would never fall in love again with a new story. Luckily, I was wrong. After a tasteful mourning period post-Shutter, I fell head over heels in love with my new book, The Lost House. So the past three years have been primarily focused on that, while also traveling, recovering from knee surgery, celebrating my best friend’s wedding, and searching for the best chocolate chip cookie in New York City.*
*Culture Espresso, in case you’re wondering. I’m willing to be proven wrong, but I don’t think chocolate chip cookies get any better than that.
Your latest novel, The Lost House, is out January 14th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Chilling, twisty, atmospheric, and surprisingly optimistic. I call this my hopeful thriller, even though the subject matter itself is dark.
What can readers expect?
I’ve been told by a couple of early readers that they needed a warm blanket and a huggable pet nearby while they read The Lost House over the course of a weekend, so I think you can expect to feel the chill of an Icelandic winter and the pull of an unputdownable story!
Where did the inspiration for The Lost House come from?
It all started with a question: What if the world thought that the person who raised you, who loved you the most, was a monster?
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I had so much fun writing about Iceland. The weather, the landscape, the language. This book is a love letter to the country.
With The Lost House set in Iceland, what kind of research did you have to do help set the story?
Oh, so glad you asked. In December 2021, I travelled to Reykjavík for a two-week solo holiday. I was having trouble finding my way into a new novel, and I suspected (hoped, desperately) this trip would shake things loose. Almost as soon as I stepped off the plane, I had an idea. I ended up staying in Iceland for three months to finish the first draft of The Lost House. While I mostly lived in Reykjavík, I did spend a bit of time in Bifröst, where the book is set. This meant a lot of hands-on research, as you can imagine, tons of black licorice and many walks through the snowy city.
What are some of the key lessons you learned when it came to writing and publishing between your debut and working on The Lost House?
What changed: Making decisions. When I wrote my debut, I agonized over my characters’ motivations and their backstories. I thought that to make my characters complicated, I had to leave certain details about them opaque, even to myself. While writing The Lost House, I realized that the more strongly I made a decision about a character, the more strongly I pinned them down, the clearer they became on the page. And, naturally, the more complicated they became.
What stayed the same: Writing the book I most wanted to read.
Did you face any challenges? How did you overcome them?
Well…I did mention knee surgery before. While I was in Reykjavík working on the first draft, I happened to slip on some ice and tear the meniscus in my left knee, an injury that needed to be addressed surgically. This wasn’t the most fun I’ve had, I’ll admit, but the downtime for the recovery meant that I had a lot of space to write. I processed my recovery through my writing—you may notice, for instance, that Agnes, the main character, has some very serious injuries to her left leg. It was intensely cathartic to give her far worse problems than my own.
What’s next for you?
I’ve got a new novel in the works, so stay tuned. Mostly, I’m just so excited to celebrate The Lost House finally being out this January!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up in 2025?
Oh, so many. Clémence Michallon’s The Last Resort, Jordan Lahaye Fontenot’s Home of the Happy, Tree Abraham’s Elseship, Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau’s The French Honeymoon, Mia P. Manansala’s Death in the Cards, and Ali Hazelwood’s Wet Deep End, just to name a few.
