Books like Rites of possession by Charlotte Lamb

Christabel Lydden carries little Nina and Dani to the home of her uncle, Roland de Belleme, for a holiday stay. The house, shrouded in the ominous reputation of the Belleme family—"Black of hair, black of eye and black of heart"—seems to have unexpected reactions to Christabel’s arrival. Though she intends only to drop the children off, Roland’s insistence and the unsettling family legacy convince her to stay on, setting the stage for a tense and dark encounter with the reclusive elder. The narrative follows Christabel as she navigates her new responsibilities and confronts the bleak atmosphere of the Belleme estate, revealing the family’s unsettling nature and the pressures that keep her tied to the children’s care. This gothic tale of familial duty, dark secrets, and unexpected co‑habitation explores the tension between personal agency and the weight of tradition.

First publish date: December 1990